Kraken Games
2022 Spring Tournament
Rules & Format
Important Dates
- Sign-Ups: March 5 - April 9
- Qualifiers: March 7 - April 9 (Mondays @ 9PM Eastern, Thursdays @ 10:30PM Eastern, Saturdays @2PM Eastern)
- Pod Reveal: April 10 (9PM Eastern on FinalFantasyRandomizer)
- Tournament Schedule: April 11th - June 27th
- Pod Stage (~2.5 weeks): April 11th - April 28th
- Play-In Race Qualifier(s):
- Play-In Race: April 29th (10PM EDT)
- Last Chance Qualifier: April 30th (7PM EDT)
- Bracket Reveal: May 1st (9pm EDT on FinalFantasyRandomizer)
- Bracket Stages (4-6 weeks):
- Round of 64: May 2nd - May 15th (2 weeks)
- This round will be dependent on reaching 85 signups. If 85 signups are not reached, brackets will instead be capped at 32. This week will be removed, and all rounds will be shifted up two weeks to compensate
- Round of 32: May 16th - May 22nd
- Round of 16: May 23rd - May 29th
- Round of 8: May 30th - June 5th (Quarterfinals)
- Round of 4: June 6th - June 12th (Semifinals)
- Finals: June 13th - June 26th (2 weeks) (Best of 5)
- Round of 64: May 2nd - May 15th (2 weeks)
The Tournament!
Welcome to the 2022 Spring Tournament! Going into our 6th year of Spring Tournaments this year the committee hoped to go back to basics and attempt to combine both tournaments of old and playstyles of new into a fun, cohesive flagset.
The theme for this year’s tournament is a Kraken Games! Runners of all ages and backgrounds will come together to scramble through our randomizer obstacle course with hazards at every turn. You might be challenged to one of our new “optional flags” and have to decide if Required Warmech is a risk you want to take or if you want to keep your eyes on the prize. But don’t worry! Should you fall, your tournament exit will be a lot more friendly than those other games you might have heard about.
The Flags
Unlike years past we will not be changing the flagset over the course of the tournament. This will hopefully lead to easier preparation and less chance of being caught off guard by drastic changes.
Drafting and Other Allowances:
For the duration of the pod round, opponents may elect to draft parties before the race. Both parties must agree to draft, do not pressure or guilt your opponent into drafting. You are not required to draft in pods.
For the bracket stage, all races will feature a player draft. The higher seeded player may elect to draft first or defer to their opponent; if the runners have the same pod record, draft order will be determined randomly in the FFR Discord using the FFR Bot (in #ffr-bots-casino, both runners will enter the command: ?roll d20, the higher number wins draft preference to draft first or defer, in case of a tie, both runners will reroll).
Drafting will be standard FFR drafting (Player A chooses 1st Light Warrior, Player B chooses 2nd and 3rd Light Warrior, Player A chooses 4th Light Warrior). Other drafting formats are possible (e.g. dodgeball drafts) if both players agree to the terms of the draft.
Drafting will occur AFTER the seed is rolled, this allows runners to view Class Bonuses & Maluses prior to the draft. If both players agree, the draft can be conducted blind, before the seed is rolled.
Flag Modification
During the tournament, opponents may wish to modify flags for their race. This is allowed but limited to the following choices:
- Requiring WarMech
- Four Forced Party Members (replaces the draft requirement - NONEs defaulted off)
- Allowing Nones Into Drafts or Four Forced
- Fight Bahamut
- Fix Missing Battle RNG
- Sky Castle 4F layout
- Shuffle Astos
- Flip Dungeons Horizontally
- Pool Draft (6 Characters)
- Trapped Boxes (Modifications under this heading would collectively represent one change)
The Spring Tournament Staff Person gatekeeping the race room will confirm all changes agreed upon before they roll the seed.
Format
Qualifiers:
Qualifier races will take place during the normal weekly races (Mondays @ 9PM EST, Thursdays @ 10:30PM EST) as well as during a third day of the week (Saturdays @ 2PM EST). Qualifiers are optional but will be used for seeding in pods as well as brackets. Any runners who have not participated in any qualifier races will be tied for last place (after any runners who have run at least one qualifier). Ties will be broken by random.org dice rolling.
Scores are created by: (1) taking the minutes and converting them straight to points (1 minute, 1 point), and then (2) converting seconds to partial points via seconds / 60 * 100. Quit races will get a score based on the highest race score (last place) + 15 points. Anyone that doesn't do 3 races will get the highest possible score in the 15 races as their "filler" scores.
There will be 15 chances to race with runners encouraged to race three times to give themselves the best average for seeding; there is no maximum that a runner can race, they just need to race at least three times and you race as many as you like (even all 15 if you wish). To keep things simple, all racers will get a score attained by averaging their three fastest races over this period.
Pods:
Pod functionality this year will depend on the size of the tournament and number of signups. Should we fail to meet the threshold of 85 runners, brackets will be capped at 32. Players will be placed in round robin pods of 4 players (as evenly as possible) using snake seeding based on scores from qualifiers. For example, if there are 32 qualifiers to fill 8 pods, the first pod would contain players 1, 16, 17, 32. The second pod would contain players 2, 15, 18, 31, and so forth.
3-0 players can be expected to be seeded into the bracket using average margin of victory (in seconds) for more accurate placement. Forfeits will be treated as opponent’s time +20 minutes. 2-1 or below players may have to compete in the play-in race qualifiers to secure a spot.
If we meet or exceed 85 runners, brackets will be capped at 64. Players will be placed in double elimination pods of 4 players (as evenly as possible) using snake seeding based on scores from qualifiers. Players will race until they have either won two races and advanced or lost two races and are eliminated. Seeding in the bracket will be determined by your win-loss record in pods, then using average margin of victory (in seconds) for more accurate placement
Play-In Race Qualifier(s):
During this week, all qualifying racers will be able to compete in the Play-In Race. The number of available positions will be equal to half of the remaining positions in the bracket, rounded up (as long as at least 1 remains). Should a runner qualify through this method they will be seeded according to their finish rank in the play-in race in the remaining bracket positions.
Finally, all remaining players who have not made brackets will qualify for the last chance qualifier. The number of available positions will be equal to the remaining spots in the bracket. Should a runner qualify through this method they will be seeded according to their finish rank in the last chance qualifier.
Meaning, if there are 12 open bracket positions, the first 6 runners in each Play-In Race will seeded into the bracket in finish order. Play-In Race 1 finishers will be seeded ahead of Last Chance Qualifier finishers (PIR 1st place gets first open spot, LCQ 1st place gets second open spot, PIR 2nd place gets third open spot, and so on). If you qualify during first Play-In Race you are no longer eligible to race in the Last Chance Qualifier
Brackets:
Brackets this year will consist of Best of 3 races until finals which consist of Best of 5. Bracket size will depend on tournament sign-ups, with 84 or less resulting in a bracket of 32 and 85 or higher resulting in a bracket of 64. Bracket seeding will start with the highest win-record players from pods sorted by qualifier seeding, followed by the second highest win-record players (if sufficient spots remain) sorted by qualifier seeding, followed by Play-In Race+Last Chance Qualifier finishers in finish order.
Challonge:
We have opted not to use Challonge this year and will instead be operating off of a google docs sheet as furnished by DarkmoonEX
Bracket Seeding:
The initial seeding will be based on the outcome of the pod stage as well as seeding from the qualifiers. All entrants who finish undefeated through pods will be inserted into the top slots for the 4 quadrants in the tournament. Following the undefeated placements, the entrants with 1 loss will be seeded using average margin of victory (in seconds) for more accurate placement (assuming this group of players does not need to compete for spots in the play-in race). Finally, the Play-In Qualifier Races will fill in the remaining positions of the bracket based on finish-order from the group race.
Rules
Sign-Ups:
Please sign up no later than 11:59pm EST, on April 9th, 2021. No late sign-ups will be allowed. ALL ENTRANTS MUST BE A MEMBER OF THE FFR DISCORD SERVER. By signing up, you agree to be held to the Final Fantasy Randomizer Discord’s Code of Conduct while engaged as a participant of this event. Violations of the Code of Conduct may result in consequences ranging from a warning to bans from the discord, the tournament, all further events; these consequences may extend to other communities as well.
Broadcasting Races:
We will try to find broadcast crews for all races; however, we do not anticipate being able to broadcast every race due to the high volume of races. Please schedule your races for the best possible time between you and your opponent without regard to broadcast viability. If you do not wish to be restreamed on a broadcast, this preference will take priority over someone who does wish to be restreamed.
We do anticipate being able to stream at least 1 match featuring each runner during the pod stage and throughout brackets. It is a goal to have races restreamed but not an expectation.
If you are being restreamed, you will be required to enable the following Fun% Options:
This request is to accommodate spectators who may be photosensitive. If you fail to make this accommodation, you will not be featured on future restreams unless you enable these features in your next race.
Stream Requirements:
- Runners need to be in their race room with their streams up and on the FF "blue screen" 20 minutes before the race starts. If you aren't up and ready to be streamed at that point you won't be on a restream. Game needs to be up, clearly visible, and not covered by other windows (including an emulator with another game or the FFR website with flags showing) for the duration of the stream. Please do not play another game on stream while you wait for the race to start.
- All races during the FFR 2022 Spring Tournament will require a 10 minute (600 second) stream delay. If you need help setting this up in your broadcast software, please notify a Tournament Staff member.
- Certain broadcast partners may request that your stream outputs be resized to be less taxing on the restreamer’s resources.
- Players must have online archives of their races vods for the duration of the tournament in case of need for review later.
- A timer must be visible on your stream. This is necessary for broadcasted races and non-broadcasted races. Stream timers will be used to sync broadcast races as well as determine outcomes in case of a draw.
- The Tournament Safe ROM feature will be on for the entirety of the tournament. If you have questions or concerns, please contact a Tournament Staff member.
Custom Sprites:
Players may use their fun graphical hacks for their game. That is, of course, with the caveat that the rom must pass the “Tournament Safe” flag, so players will really only be able to edit their hero sprites.
If the sprites are not recognizable as the traditional heroes of the game, the players must name their characters after the classes being used (i.e., FI, TH, BB, RM, BM, WM). As an example, using FF3 versions of the sprites is fine and does not require players to adjust the character names, but using Ranma 1/2 sprites, or Breath of Fire sprites, or Castlevania sprites, etc.. isn’t as easy to understand and would require conformed, basic names for the characters. And, of course, character names, and hero sprites, must conform to the above standards listed (so no swear words for character names, and no offensive or NSFW sprites of any kind, etc.). Questionable sprites should be sent to a Tournament Organizer for review/approval.
The Use of Trackers:
Throughout the FFR 2022 Spring Tournament, runners will be able to use trackers to help track key items and locations checked. However, the tracker must not be automated. Trackers which update entrances based on user input are allowed.
Conduct:
While on stream, and in interviews afterwards, players are expected to behave professionally and act to the expected standards for on-air behavior. This includes, but is not limited to: no inappropriate language, no rants about the other player, no rants about the tournament, no rants about the format, no rants about the streaming service, etc. This extends not only to the on-air portion of the event but to Twitch chat and public-facing Discords as well. Anyone that acts in a manner counter to the professional attitude and bearing we expect from our players at this event will be disqualified from the tournament.
Dropping/No Show Rules:
- If you wish to drop from the tournament, you are free to do so. Please inform a Tournament Staff Person by pinging @Spring Tournament Staff as soon as possible.
- If more than 5 minutes has passed since the scheduled start time for your race and your opponent has neither contacted you, ST staff, or has arrived into the race room, they are considered a no-show for that match. This will be considered a forfeit for the no-show runner and a win will be awarded to the person who showed up for the race.
- If neither runner shows up for the scheduled race, the runners will have the opportunity to reschedule their race within the current deadline of the tournament stage in which the race is supposed to happen.
- If a runner does not respond to their paired opponent, a Tournament Organizer (TO) should be notified after 24 hours, so that the TO can assist in the situation.
Player Drops:
- If a player in your pod drops from the tournament for any reason, all matches within the pod against that will be considered a forfeit for the dropped player. This includes completed matches.
- If a player drops during the bracket round, this will be treated as if the runner forfeit the match.
- If you are in a pod with another racer or in the bracket stage, please make every reasonable effort to complete your match(es) with your opponent(s). Should there be any reason why you are not able to complete your race in a given week, please contact Spring Tournament Staff as soon as possible.
- The person who showed up for the race can request a rematch with their opponent; the person who was a no-show cannot request a rematch.
Game Rules:
All games will be run using RaceTime.gg (RTGG). You will be asked if you have an account when entering into the tournament; please make sure you do so. You may use a console or approved emulator to play. All races are blind.
The winner will be determined by the RTGG’s SahasrahBot’s timer, unless external technical difficulties are in place, or if the race is decided by 3 seconds or less. In either case, the runners may agree upon a race result. If they do not, a Tournament Organizer will re-time the runs by hand and determine the winner.
In the event in which the margin of victory is less than one second, the race will be determined to be a draw and tiebreaker match will be scheduled. The flags of the tiebreaker will be the same as the round of the draw. In the event of a tiebreaker match, this will need to be streamed as all races are but a broadcast on one of our streaming partner’s will not be required.
Accidental Forfeits:
If you accidentally forfeit, please re-enter within 60 seconds of the forfeit. If the 60 seconds elapse, or you forfeit three times in a race, the forfeit will be official. If you accidentally “.done” during the race before completing the race, let the Tournament Staff in the race know that it was an accident and re-enter the race as soon as possible.
Forfeits Due to Technical Issues:
If somebody has a technical issue that results in a forfeit (e.g. power loss, internet outage, hardware malfunction, software issues, etc.), please notify Tournament Staff as soon as possible! If you are unaware of the issue that caused the forfeit (e.g. LiveSplit integration betrayed you), a Tournament Staff will contact you as soon as possible via Discord and tell you of the issue.
Anti-Cheating Policy:
This includes, but is not limited to: using any external programs to analyze a ROM, looking at your competitor’s stream or chat, looking at the restream or the restream chat, or hacking the ROM to give yourself any sort of advantage. Any cheating discovered will result in penalties ranging from a forfeit of the race or instant disqualification from the tournament. Additionally, bans on participation in future FFR events or events organized by other communities may be sanctioned depending on the nature of the offense.
We require that all entrants keep their stream on emote only mode during official races.
Any spoilers in RTGG chat between the start and end of the race may result in penalties at the tournament organizers’ discretion. These penalties may range from a warning to disqualification from this and future tournaments. Please redirect all commentary about a seed, while the race is still in progress, to the appropriate discord channel, and please save all comment commands for after the race is done.
If you are not directly involved in the race, do not type anything in the RTGG room until the race is finished, and non-runners (broadcast crew) should only use the channel for required business (such as adjusting on-stream timers or declaring a reseed).
Any situation not explicitly handled by the rules will be dealt with on a case by case basis by the Tournament Staff.