• As part of the relaunch of Skullheart, ALL previous threads have been archived. You can find them at the bottom of the forum in the Archives (2021) section. The archives are locked, so please use the new forum sections to create new discussion threads.

Focusing Community Turnout at SG Tourney Events

Kai

Go Home And Be A Family Man!
Joined
Sep 3, 2013
Messages
2,844
Reaction score
6,554
Points
113
Age
39
Location
Chicago, IL
Website
www.killallinstinct.com
Steam
Kai
PSN
Night_Phyre
Parasoul Cerebella Big Band
There have been other threads like this (that I'm not currently able to find), but I want to restart this discussion in the wake of a successful major: Combo Breaker 2015. 106 registrants, pot bonuses, main stage, all that good stuff, and because we basically said, "they're holding the door open, so let's show up." Over the CB weekend, discussions with various people highlighted that we all want more successes like this, clearly. How to go about that, though, was not so clear.

So, let's talk about how we can focus and get people to tournaments in way that lets us be at our best. EVO is, at this time, an event that treats Skullgirls as trivial, so for the purposes of this discussion, let's just keep it to non-EVO events (seeing as higher turnout for that event won't increase our standing there). We've a few things coming up, like CEO, Summer Jam, and NEC, all with varying levels of support for SG. What should we focus on, and how should we do it?
 
  • Like
Reactions: BallotBoxer
There have been other threads like this (that I'm not currently able to find)
Not sure if you're referring to that, but I made a thread on a similar topic, just focused on "Stop making EVO the biggest SG event"
http://skullheart.com/index.php?threads/evo-and-you-sg-the-community-etc.6507/
It is in "Completed Tournaments" now, which is like the weirdest place.. presuming some Mod moved it there by accident

And yes, I still think EVO even as a 2nd, 3rd, or whatever tournament is a bad idea.
There is more support from basically every other tourney, which makes EVO seem like the weirdest place for people to flock to (given that they focus on SG)

As it stands, CEO has SG not on their homepage, and I don't see any other sort of support for it?
At some point (I think in 2014) there was talk about it becoming a CEO main game if it manages 100(? 60? I forgot the number) entrants at some sort-of-local prior to CEO, which was a ridiculous proposition

SummerJam has SG listed on their main page (as a sidegame, but still), KPB has already promised a $500 pot bonus for it and BigE stepped up stating they'd throw a $500 pot bonus into NEC if SummerJam manages 64+ entrants.
NEC last year looked really good and the BigE events are affiliated with KPB, which has been EXTREMELY supportive of us - so those two seem like the most obvious options as further tournaments.
 
Here: http://shoryuken.com/tournament-calendar/

I think it's still very valid to consider EVO as an option though, the turnout there is what makes the minds of a lot of people...

But besides that I'd say shoot for Summer Jam, 500$ pot bonus and Big E putting 500$ in the pot for NEC if there's more than 64 entrants are a pretty damn good reason to try making this. Making better numbers than marvel a second time will also make a pretty big statement, and hopefully it won't be that marvel is dead :^)
 
The reason I say let's stay away from EVO talk is because if you're going, you're going, that's kinda locked in. It's a big deal. For SG, though, it's kinda not. EVO 2016 could be a real discussion if we have a few more good majors, but not 2015, imo.
 
I think an important thing to remember is that EVO might've gotten big numbers because people felt that was all there *was* to go to. And Vulpes has a point. If you're into fighting games as a whole then, yeah, EVO is still the finale of the tournament season.

But if you just want to focus on SG then there can probably be better places for it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Broseidon Rex
i definitely think NEC should be the goal for people who can only pick one, since it would have a good turnout anyway, With SummerJam being the secondary goal


Also Canada Cup 2015 is in toronto this year jus sayin' http://canada-cup.ca/canada-cup-2015-2/
 
  • Like
Reactions: IsaVulpes
I disagree about Summer Jam being secondary to NEC. NEC is AFTER Summer Jam 9. The latter is at the end of August. East Coast should be focusing all of their efforts on that, IMO. Don't put the cart before the horse.

Sort of assuming here, but NEC 15 was in December, so NEC 16 would be in December as well, no? That's ~3 months after SJ9.

The main reason is this:

https://www.facebook.com/2BigE3/posts/10152834737560778

Kick Punch Block is throwing down $500 if SG gets over 64 entrants, AND - if I'm reading this right - Big E will throw in another $500 to bring the SJ9 prize pot to $1000. In ADDITION to that, he'll throw in $500 for the prize pot at NEC.

These are both East Coast events, and EVO is more expensive to travel to for East Coasters because of its location. AND it's been shown two years in a row now that EVO doesn't give a SHIT if get more entrants than almost any other side tournament. I still think we should strive for that, of course, but if people are only able to choose between EVO or SJ9/NEC, I would recommend they go with the latter.
 
Summer jam and NEC are cool, I'll be going at least to NEC but if we do all end up deciding to go to summer jam I can try to be in there, but I feel like combo breaker was a good spot because it was (reasonably) in the middle of things in the US, focusing SG events just on the east coast seems a bit unfair to west coast. You guys just had NWM and I don't know the turnout for that but I feel like we should have at least a couple of "big sg events" in the west as well.
 
Everybody from west coast who came to Combo Beaker did so via air travel, so it'd be the same for SJ and NEC regardless, and plane tickets don't really vary in price that much within the continental US.
 
We just need to be more consistent. Which IS happening, but it needs to keep happening.

Not saying we need to pull triple digits every month, but to have Combo Breaker break 100+ just to have Summer Jam get 30 would be a preeetty bad look.

NEC pulled 50+ and were doing WAAAY better then we were during 2012-2014. Those were rough....

100+ EVO tournament to go to Winter Brawl months later for a 6 man round robin ;_;


KEEP GOING TO THINGS GUYS YOU ALL SAID YOURSELF YOU HAD A GOOD TIME, and going to MORE of these things makes you LESS sad when you have post tournament blues because you know you'll just see the boos again soon <3
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 Eyes and Wenzel
one thing that's really cool is if we can get room rate discounts, the room being cheaper was a big aspect in helping me be able to go and I know it's happening for summer jam but just as a note for future if TOs can get it it's nice
 
Gentlemen, if there's anything more that myself or Kick-Punch-Block can do to "further the cause", just let me know. Sure, throwing money at a game is one way to catch people's attention, but we all know that it runs deeper than that.

Believe it or not, we're all in the same position: KPB wants to grow just as much as the SGNation does. Both parties want to raise their profiles and, as such, both parties are in a position to do just that. As it has been stated before, the key to our continued success is consistency.

On the merit of my promise, I (and, by extension, KPB) will continue to support you.
 
It would be nice to have a centralized tournament in each "region" that the competitive SG community agrees on attending. I can easily attend CEO and TFC this year, but even with just a month away CEO has 3 people RSVP'd in the thread. Kind of tough to get pumped to go. There's very focused communities in Cal, NY and VA, and whether those communities attend or not is really what makes the event worth going to. The South has players too, but we're a lot more spread out, so it's harder for us to have bi-weekly meetups. Having tourneys in the West, NE, and South-ish regions that competitive SG players agree to come to would cover a lot of geographical areas and would encourage more casual-ish people in those areas to come out as well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pickles
We should identify the hotbeds for Skullgirls competition.

This isn't accurate this is just a quick grouping.

-New York City/New England
-DMV
-Midwest (Illinois)
-SoCal/Cal

Our attendance at events is "low" because we kinda don't have like 50-60 people playing in 1 area. We all agree to hit up one event, hit 100+ and then we're broke and miss the next event and then that area who is nearby or affordable to get to is only like 20-40 people. I think this is the biggest challenge.
 
I think its more of an advertising and hype build up event. Like going into CB, we had a lot of good things going on for us, and we advertised to everyone to come and sign up for the game and such. Summer Jam is coming up soon, and I feel what we did with CB and the hype before should help us with Summer Jam. I mea, a 500$ pot bonus for SJ? + ANOTHER 500$ POT BONUS IF WE BREAK 64?
Why do we need to stop at 64? Lets give them a reason to make our game a MAIN GAME.
 
I think its more of an advertising and hype build up event. Like going into CB, we had a lot of good things going on for us, and we advertised to everyone to come and sign up for the game and such. Summer Jam is coming up soon, and I feel what we did with CB and the hype before should help us with Summer Jam. I mea, a 500$ pot bonus for SJ? + ANOTHER 500$ POT BONUS IF WE BREAK 64?
Why do we need to stop at 64? Lets give them a reason to make our game a MAIN GAME.
You can be a big part of that. You have elevated visibility when compared to your average player, and you need to be using that to strategically focus attention on these events.
 
You can be a big part of that. You have elevated visibility when compared to your average player, and you need to be using that to strategically focus attention on these events.
I know. And therefore I will because I support this game with my life lol
 
I think its more of an advertising and hype build up event. Like going into CB, we had a lot of good things going on for us, and we advertised to everyone to come and sign up for the game and such. Summer Jam is coming up soon, and I feel what we did with CB and the hype before should help us with Summer Jam. I mea, a 500$ pot bonus for SJ? + ANOTHER 500$ POT BONUS IF WE BREAK 64?
Why do we need to stop at 64? Lets give them a reason to make our game a MAIN GAME.


Someone's tryin' to get paid :)

Damn the fgc must be making you rich!

(Good stuff BTW and thank you for supporting SG as much as you do)
 
  • Like
Reactions: SonicFox
If Summer Jam breaks that 64 entry threshold, the pot will be large enough that I will be giving payouts to all of Top 8. I want to squash that notion that the pot will only line the pockets of the same couple of players time and time again. They deserve the most money, but if possible, rewarding the hard work that placing in Top 8 requires is something I'd like to see happen when possible.

Reaching out to some of these online warriors also pays off. We're seeing a groundswell of capable new players popping up online. Names that constantly show up in lobbies and streams obviously have a considerable interest in the game. If you live close to an SG hotbed, let those low broccoli pings know that there's a scene nearby. Because regulars at locals become regulars at majors.
 
Welp I'm hoping for a miracle to fly to NEC this year. Even though I'm being biased towards the KoF turnout, but will throw free money to enter towards SG. If I can't save enough for NEC then CEOtaku will have to be my back-up plan.
 
Imma just throw this out there, GUTS has always had Skullgirls as a main game and has always streamed top 8 except for the first one cause they didn't stream like anything at that one. Ask anyone who went and they'll tell you they had a good time, except maybe the one dude I DQ'd because he didn't respond when I pronounced his name wrong. That said GU is busy with moving to a new location so IDK what's good with GUTS 4, but when GUTS 4 gets announced I'm hoping yall will be in there.

In the immediate future I think Summer Jam is the move. Getting 64 is gonna be tough but we should try to do it.
 
So one of the things that's always frustrated me (and I think a lot of people) about BigE events was that SG was almost never included in the official lineups, and if it was, they didn't allow pre-registration. Now it looks like BigE is starting to come around on both fronts. This will certainly make getting more people to the upcoming events easier.

https://twitter.com/AphroDynamek/status/603203745971871744

https://twitter.com/ElkyDori/status/603213313040867328

Shout outs to the people tweeting this stuff out!
 
Last edited:
I'm not expecting much of a turnout for CEO for the usual reasons-- lack of support, horrible scheduling, and so on.

But everybody should try to get to CEOtaku if they can. We get to be a main game, it's at a great time of year, and it's gonna be awesome. Shit, we can plan a group trip to Horror Nights if you want!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ElkyDori
What's the date and location for TFC?
 
what/when/where is TFC?

I'm assuming "Fall" is the answer to at least one of those...
 
Last edited:
I'm going to assume there's no date.
 
Okay, I'm just gonna fire a shot in the dark & casually assume everyone's been picking up all the news I've been spreading around today like so much butter on a stack of homemade pancakes. It would seem something has lit a fire up under Big E. Whether it's him not wanting to be shown up by another region's event (ridiculous as that sounds, it's not as farfetched as one might think) -OR- the numbers that we have been rallying lately are simply growing too evident to ignore any longer. Whatever the case may be, I am fairly sure this constitutes as that "shining opportunity" people are always going on about when they're trying to be inspirational.

Whatever you wanna call it, this moment right here should not & cannot be ignored. I intend to keep my eyes open & ears to the ground for any other news that pops up. As it stands, I'm only the conduit through which all this information passes... if there's more that I can do, just give the word.

On a final note... seriously, how awesome is all this!?
 
I've had this conversation two separate threads already over the past like two years. But now people know what focusing on an event feels like after Combo Breaker.

I still think we should have listings for tournaments we'd like to focus on, and why. Make a targeted list and link it on the front page of Skullheart to let everyone know where we want to go and why.

Edit: Also... MY list looks like SJ first, NEC second, TFC third. I don't think I can make anything else, really.
 
Last edited:
This is gonna seem needlessly self-indulgent, but I think everybody should go to CEOtaku. Jebailey has historically kind of had disdain for the game and us, and making an event for us was unexpected and awesome on his behalf. It doesn't have any pot bonuses yet, but it's seriously the exact type of major we've been looking for in these discussions.

Also, we're doing a SGC group to Halloween Horror Nights the day beforehand.
 
CEOtaku... it's seriously the exact type of major we've been looking for...
I think it's really not, though. A sequestered tourney for side games, and no SG pot bonus? I don't think that compares favorably to the SJ+NEC situation at all.
 
I think it's really not, though. A sequestered tourney for side games, and no SG pot bonus? I don't think that compares favorably to the SJ+NEC situation at all.
I meant with respect to the hypothetical "make our own major" thing that people were mentioning a while back. Yeah, this was before Combo Breaker basically filled that void, but it's still a cool opportunity and it's got vastly superior timing to vanilla CEO.

I mean, no game has a pot bonus yet at CEOtaku. This is the first time the event will be held, so there's a lot to be said for it being the Frosty Faustings of Skullgirls or whatever. It's a lot of potential.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kai