Hey I’m trying to get your best player down, well on xbox live. Her name is Shantelle she plays a awsome ryu!! She says shes from Saskatoon!! but she doesn’t know about srk!
Sorry for taking awhile, been out pretty much the whole day.Anyhow I’ve read most of the comments and I certainly understand the issues that are being presented. The price point is not appealing, everything else such as the latency on TV’s can be correct easily. The main issue now is the price and I will assure the managment at hi-tech that the price point is to steep. Once that is accomplished I will report back with the new price and hope that everyone will find it a lot more reasonable, Ill also adjust the prizes as well.
hey dude, yeah we get together weekly.
get in touch with merlando, or normanjr,
msg me and i’ll give you my cell number and we can get in touch. i’m trying to get a hold of merlando @ the moment, but he’s a ***.
had no idea she was from saskatoon, you guys should get in touch with her.
She moved a few months ago, a shame too because she’s a pretty cool gal and a good player too.
In anticapation for the grand opening of the HTA (scheduled to launch later this year) it has come my attention that individuals within the gaming community have voiced thier concerns regarding the enterance fee currently being proposed and the prizes that will be issued.Having looked over a lot of these concerns I may have come to a conclusion that should satisfy all parties involved.Now before I get to that I want to stress one last point that I feel is being overlooked.
The old community accomplished it’s goals in the sense that it introduced the possibilty of a legitamate gaming community in our city.I am very thankful to the players that allowed us host at their homes(particularly Dustin)and I’m very greatful to Oz for creating the ttf.The main reason for relocating the community is because the community that I had always invisioned was simply not a possibility in our previous venues which mainly consisted of players homes.While I appreciate the efforts of the previous community there were issues that hindered it’s progress(many of which I cited in previous posts)which in turn lead me to persue alternatives.
A large thriving community needs to have a good venue and truthfully speaking a good venue will not come cheap.Regardless if it’s a game room or a room at the university there is always going to be some expense to cover.Now granted I now some players will insist on hosting in other player’s homes or even just online,but the community that I have planned will not work under those circumstances and for good reason.I truly believe the htgr is the ideal spot for a gaming community,it has the exposure,the size,the set-ups and most importantly the organization and structure that a community needs.Such a venue does come at a price though and imo I think the pricing is justified.
I clearly don’t want too steep of a price that it will compromise the attendance but we have to realize that the htgt is still a business and as such we have to be realistic with our expectations. It’s obvious that any business will want to make money, but at the sametime the HTA is a labour of passion and something that is being developed with the players in mind. It isn’t like I am just planning to host weekly casuals, I’m implementing a ranking system, a website and frequent tournaments to give incentive and motive to this community. Our goal at the HTA is to give you every bang for you’re buck.
My solution is to make a monthly subscription of $30 that will cover the cost for all the events that month. The $25 entry fee will also cover the 2 days for the grand opening event. People who drop by the HTA without membership will just pay the regular fee set by the store to use the htgr, I personally think this is a good solution.
In conclusion, nothing is set in stone so price points and prizes could always be adjusted but once again its nothing that I can make a absolute promise on. I want a large competitive community and I believe this is the only way to attain that aim. After coming back from other communities(especially Winnipeg)I was inspired to attempt something similar on my own. I’m trying to do everything I can to make this work but if there is to much resistence coming agaisnt me then I can only move on ahead and hope that this resistence eventually fades. If you want to help, give some suggestions on price points or recommendations on anything else you guys might take issue with. That’s all there is to this so if you don’t like it then move along and leave the rest of us who do want something alone.
Smash’s scene is still alive and well. We still do weekly friendlies at the university. If you’re ever interested, contact me.
I don’t understand why you would need such a large venue when the scene is small to begin with. What was your biggest turn out at an event so far? I think you said 20 for the last big event? Assuming PS3 and Xbox is a 50/50 split, you’ll have 10 people since this event is for Xbox for the time being, right? From those 10 people, you have to consider how many of those are willing to pay a monthly fee to participate. After that, you have to look at how many people are able to make it out every week. IMO, it is comparable to booking an entire theatre for a group of 5 or 6 people when you could easily watch the movie at someone’s place for free. Also, just to give everyone an idea of what the prizes will be, what did you get for winning the last HTA Tournament, Evo?
I’ll just say this, first off for a small community having to pay for entry really sucks, $30 a month will not get you anyone, in case you didn’t realize this yet but people who play fighting games tend to not have a ton of disposable income. Its not always the case but thats what I’ve noticed. As for people who want to meet at a persons home that works for an established group of friends perhaps, but its not ideal for people who are first time comers. Just showing up randomly to someones place can be fairly intimidating. IMO a public venue would be best, the cheaper the better. We here are very fortunate to have a FREE venue to play at. We just bring our own equipment and setup in a lounge at the university.
The reason our commnuity has had small numbers for almost the last year has been due to the small venue. The first HTA tourny brought in over 20 players and that was just for SF4 alone. Hosting at a players home just doesnt isnt practical for any real growth or development so a bigger venue is a must. However there really isn any large avaible venue’s that wouldnt come at some expense. Not to mention there isnt any other venue’s that will have the exposure and avaible set-up’s. We are getting a venue,exposure,avaible set-ups and a organzied and structured community and endorsment from the most popular gaming outlet in town. Like I said before, if people want something free then continue hosting at other players home but Im going to continue with something bigger and better.
That’s good to hear. Which Smash do you guys play though? I hear from my buddy it’s Melee. If it’s Brawl my buddies and I are most likely down.
The most people that ever came out to a casual event was like… 15. And that is when the moon aligns just right. Mostly we have between 8-10 people who come fairly consistently. We play on 3 set ups when we need to, at my place we have an xbox and a ps3, some sticks, and a couple people who bring more set ups.
Actually, the reason our community has had small numbers for almost the last year is because there is a relatively small number of people who are interested/play the game semi/seriously in Saskatoon. We know of a few more people than ever come out, but they are unable to or not interested in playing at our gatherings. Some people come intermittently. That’s ok! No one has ever declined the invitation due to the small venue.
Also I’d like to ask you to quit ragging on my apartment, because it has a lot of space and a lot of seating (relatively). I seem to remember at the first tournament at high tech, where we were all fucking crammed in there like sardines and there was no chairs. Because I was sitting on the floor, which was kind of damp because the ceiling was leaking or something?? So…
My living room is something like… IDK. I’d guess 12x25’ with a couch, 2 loveseats, a sumochair, and some optional seating we move in. We also run a setup in the kitchen which has ample space. People who sit on the floor at least have dry carpet to sit on.
So no. We do not have a lack of space.
We do, however, have a lack of air conditioning when it’s hot, because it seems like I just /can’t/ keep it cool in here.
Can’t win em all!
We here in Calgary have a restaurant that allows us to bring all the setups we want, and show a weekly tourney on their projector setup. They serve alcohol too, and it’s happy hour pricing. Totally free to play on the casual setups, totally free to enter the tournament.
We get 20-30 people a week, or more. We seem to always get new people dropping by to try out as well. It’s awesome, we’re so lucky to have this location. The restaurant makes lots of money from all the food and drinks we buy, so they’re happy too.
If they charged $10 per week, per person, no new people would show up, and I bet most of the regulars would stop coming too. It would rape our local scene. 
After reading about Calgary, Winnipeg, Ontario etc. I’m just wondering if you have looked into any other establishments? (University, restaraunts, pool halls, community centers, etc?) Maybe the new scene’s location should be reconsidered, based on the typical experience from other gaming cities?
I think it would be pretty sweet to play some games somewhere where they also served food/drink. I’m pretty sure I fall into the category of people who “dont know about games” though, so take it or leave it.
How are you going to correct the latency?
I think these are valid questions.
Melee and Brawl. If people wanted to play 64 I’d probably push running that too. I’m also trying to push Balanced Brawl, but that’s going slowly. Anytime you guys think that you can make it out, drop a line on smashboards. I feel guilty cluttering up this thread anyway.
i want to play street fighter at a bar, why don’t i live in these cities? sure i’ll get progressively worse over the night, but man it’d be awesome
You can come play at my place. And we can drink cheaper than the bar :-p
Our scene is somewhat too young to into bar, though. Maybe you should move!!
noo… don’t move 
Lol, it happens to all of us. Everyone stays sober for the tourney, gets drunk, talks shit, and then just has a blast. I haven’t had a single bad time playing at the Twig(our spot).
Incorrect, while its true that player movitation is important the small attendance number was actually a combination of 2 factors. The first being the venue itself and the second being the exposure. The venue is not public domain, it is private property. As such the attendance will work in a ?invitation only? capacity. For a established player base this isn’t a issue but it severely hinders the growth potential of the player base due to it functioning in a relatively obscure matter away from the public. We also cannot neglect the fact that certain players might have reservations against playing games in a strangers home or just might take issue with the idea of a players home for whatever reason. Additionally, housing a community in a private venue also hurts the communities exposure especially in regards to advertisement. Aside from the fact that some people might not like playing games at some random persons house as a venue, a good deal of them probably didn’t even know that such a venue existed to begin with.
Saskatoon is not the biggest city but the first hi-tech tournament grossed over 20 players. That has been the largest gathering of players in a single gathering that the cities fighting game community has ever seen. The reason for this is because hi-tech game traders is a public function and possibly one of the most popular gaming outlets in the city. It is across the street from one of the most popular malls in town and just generally speaking is in a very good location that is familiar to a lot of people. They have exposure and as such can cover more ground when they advertise, this immediately makes then more prone to being noticed by potential players then anything we could hope to accomplish in a players home. More people will frequent hi-tech game traders in a day then at anyone’s house for a year, and out of all those people who frequent the store on a daily basis anyone of them could be a potential player. As a example of this, there was a very good ryu player who lived in Saskatoon a few months ago who wanted some games offline. She had no idea about the existence of SRK and especially the toon town scene, however she did know about hi-tech game traders.
In review, a players home is good for a established player base but not ideal for developing a extended player base…especially a large and thriving gaming community. Therefore the reason for the low numbers was the venue and exposure as I had previously stated.
My comments were not intended to be detrimental to you, they were simply stating the facts that the venue was not sufficient enough to accommodate a large community. It’s acceptable for a gathering between a small number of players but not adequate for the community I have intended. Speaking of which, I am proud and pleased with what the old community was able to accomplish and as co-founder it’s out of my respect and gratitude for the efforts and progress of the old community that I was inspired to develop it further.
I have and this is the ideal venue.
There is a tim hortons next door and a food court across the street.
It is being looked into.
Nos: Thats good to hear man, I hope you’re scene continues to thrive:)
Me too. It really blew up when SF4 came out… still going!
BTW: Team spooky and Justin Wong are coming to our Canada Cup tournament. You guys gotta come! lol