I did it! I managed to work it out perfectly!
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- A 32 man tournament completed in 3 hours 30mins! I predict it would actually run even faster!
- DOUBLE ELIMINATION! I know alot of players wanted that.
- Not BORING, if you are a spectator.
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After I took into consideration the viewpoints from some of the top players, as well as the organizers. I managed to merge double elimation with the concept of Best of 9 rounds, Best of 1 game.
If I were to define the "Skye" format. It would be X-number of players, in double elimination, using best of 9 rounds, best of 1 game.
Stole the above image by googling "double elimination", then I tacked on then different "Stages" onto the existing ".JPG", to make the explanation seem clearer.
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Let me break it down..
1. This will be at the tournament area, with the big screen, and 4 cabinets (meaning 2 games can go on simultaneously)
2. The machines are set to 5 rounds (or best of 9 rounds, or first to 5 rounds), at 60 seconds.
3. For a total of 32 players, there will be 10 Stages to the tournament, with Stage 1 being the first round, and Stage 10 being the Grand Finals.
4. I have calculated the total time based on an estimated average. I assume each set to finish at 5-3 rounds, with 40 seconds being spent. Which is roughly 5 minutes 30 seconds. So it takes 5 minutes 30 seconds to finish 1 set between 2 players.
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- 32 players play 16 games in total. With 2 machines, we are able to run 2 games simultaneously, meaning that we really only spend 8 games worth of time, as opposed to 16.
- 16 players advance to the Winner's Bracket. 16 players drop down to the Loser's Bracket.
- Total estimated time = 44 minutes
- 32 players play 16 games in total. 16 players in the Winner's Bracket play 8 games, 16 players in the Loser's Bracket play 8 games.
- 8 players advance to the Winner's Bracket. 8 players drop down to the Loser's Bracket. 8 players in the Loser's Brackets are eliminated. There are now 16 players in the Loser's Bracket at this point.
- There are now 8 players in the Winner's Bracket and 16 players in the Loser's Bracket.
- Total estimated time = 44 minutes
- Stage 3 only involves the Loser's Bracket. The remaining 8 face off with the freshly dropped 8 players from the winners bracket. So 8 games will be played, and 8 players in the Loser's Brackets will get eliminated.
- There are now 8 players left in the Loser's Bracket, and 8 players in the Winner's Bracket.
- Total estimated time = 22 minutes
- 16 players face off, in 8 games. The 8 winners play 4 games in total, and the 8 losers play 4 games in total.
- 4 players advance to the Winner's Bracket. 4 players drop down to the Loser's Bracket. 4 players in the Loser's Brackets are eliminated.
- There are now 4 players in the Winner's Bracket, and 8 players in the Loser's Bracket.
- Total estimated time = 22 minutes
- Stage 5 only involves the Loser's Bracket. The remaining 4 face off with the freshly dropped 4 players from the Winner's Bracket. So 4 games will be played, and 4 players in the Loser's Brackets will get eliminated.
- There are now 4 players in the Winner's Bracket, and 4 players in the Loser's Bracket.
- Total estimated time = 11 minutes
- SPECIAL NOTE : Now we start to use only 1 machine. As the focus is drawn to the finals stages of the tournament.
- 8 players face off, in 4 games. The 4 winners play 2 games in total, and the 4 loser's play 2 games in total.
- 2 winners will advance to the Winner's Finals. 2 players drop down to the Loser's Brackets. 2 players in the Loser's Brackets will get eliminated.
- Total estimated time = 22 minutes
- SPECIAL NOTE : Now we start to use only 1 machine. As the focus is drawn to the finals stages of the tournament.
- Stage 7 only involves the Loser's Bracket. The remaining 2 face off with the freshly dropped 2 players from the Winner's Bracket. So 2 games will be played, and 2 players in the Loser's Brackets will get eliminated.
- There are now 2 players in the Winner's Bracket and 2 players in the Loser's Bracket.
- Total estimated time = 11 minutes
- SPECIAL NOTE : Now we start to use only 1 machine. As the focus is drawn to the finals stages of the tournament.
- The Winner's Final takes place at Stage 8, between the last 2 players of the Winner's Bracket. The winner will move on to the Grand Finals, while the loser drops down to the Loser's Final.
- The remaining 2 players in the Loser's Bracket will play 1 game in total. 1 player will become eliminated.
- Total estimated time = 16 minutes 30 seconds
- SPECIAL NOTE : Now we start to use only 1 machine. As the focus is drawn to the finals stages of the tournament.
- Stage 9 is none other than the Loser's Finals. The last remaining player of the Loser's Bracket will face off against the 1 player who lost in the Winner's Finals.
- The winner of this match will advance to the Grand Finals. The loser is the 3rd place winner of the tournament.
- Total estimated time = 5 minutes 30 seconds
- SPECIAL NOTE : Now we start to use only 1 machine. As the focus is drawn to the FINALS.
- Here we are! At last we've come to the climax of the whole tournament. In one corner we have someone who is completely undefeated. And in the other corner we have someone who has had to win twice the number of games compared to the other player.
- In order for the winner of the Loser's Bracket to win the tournament, he has to beat the winner of the Winner's Bracket twice (Best afterall, it's double elimination, and the winner's bracket winner never lost once). The winner of the Winner's Bracket only needs to beat the other guy 1 set to win the champhionship
- Total estimated time = 15 minutes 30 seconds
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Grand Total Time Spent = 213 minutes 30 seconds or 3 hours 34 minutes
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So there you have it. It's all worked out. Everybody's too terrified of working out 32 players into a double elimination period under 4 hours, but I have done it.
Not only is it under 4 hours, it's incorporates so many factors you wouldn't normally think of.
WHY is it best of 9 rounds, best of 1 game and not best of 5 rounds, best of 3 games?
Because if your audience watches Bo9 rounds, Bo1 game, he knows every match is vitally important. It could mean dropping down to loser's or even worse, facing elimination.
Lets face it, if it's best of 3 games, your audience wouldn't know what the hell is going on half the time. You have to give them a REASON to watch the games. "Oh, if he loses he's eliminated" or "If he loses this, it's down to the losers for him". Imagine if they haven't a clue as to what is going on.. What do bored people do? The audience may be tempted to leave the arcade to eat lunch, or smoke, or fall asleep. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's true!
"Oh, he just lost one game, it's okay, he still has another game to bounce back to 1-1". Do you think that your audience will understand that? Believe me, it's very sian to have to go back to seeing the character selection screen again and again. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT, people get bored if nothing happens within a 5-10 second span. That's just the way it is.
Is Bo9 too random? Well, I don't know. I believe Tekken 5 : DR is consistent at the higher levels, which is where we want to reach. The life settings is at 120%, this is a big deal. You have 5 whole rounds. I think this minimizes the randomness greatly.
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Okay in conclusion, adopt this format. There's no other way to have 32 players within such a short time span.
Believe me! I'm not against Best of 3 games, it's just that there is NO TIME.
This is the only way to do it.
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