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{{Infobox VG
|title = Stendhal
|image = [[Image:Stendhal4.png|200px]]
|developer = The [[Arianne]] project
|publisher = The [[Arianne]] project
|designer = 
|engine = Arianne
|released = [[October 22]] [[2009]] (0.78)
|genre = [[MMORPG]]
|modes = [[Multiplayer]]
|ratings = 
|platforms = [[Java virtual machine|JVM]]
|media = [[Download]], [[Webstart]]
|requirements = 
|input = [[computer keyboard|Keyboard]], [[mouse (computing)|mouse]]
}}
[[Image:Stendhal 0.59 raid.jpg|thumb|Multiple players working together to fight against an invasion.]]

'''Stendhal''' is a fully [[open source]] multiplayer online adventure game ([[MMORPG]]) written in [[Java (programming language)|Java]], using the [[Arianne]] game development system. The game (including server, client, and graphics) is licensed under the [[GNU General Public License|GPL]]. Even though Stendhal is still heavily under development (it is on the top 50 most active projects hosted on SourceForge<ref>SourceForge Newsletter Feburary 27nd, 2008 features the project</ref>), it is fully playable.

Krakow Online Game<ref>[[GameStar]] - Posmakuj krwi Smoka Wawelskiego, czyli wystartowaÅ�a KrakÃ³w Online Game - http://www.gamestar.pl/news/104137/Posmakuj.krwi.Smoka.Wawelskiego.czyli.wystartowala.Krakow.Online.Game.html (Polish)</ref> was developed based on Stendhal.

== Objectives and game play ==

As a typical multiplayer online adventure game Stendhal features a rich world in which players can fight monsters and explore towns, buildings, plains, caves and dungeons. By fighting  monsters and completing quests provided by [[Non Player Character|NPC]]s player gain experience and money. The money can be used to buy new items and improve the armor and weapons. Gaining experience allows the players to fight stronger monsters and explore more parts of the world.

== History ==

Stendhal is based on ariannexp which was born in [[1999]]. The initial release of Stendhal was on March, 03 [[2005]]. The first playable version was released on April the 4th.

In [[2006]] Stendhal was using graphics of unclear copyright status that looked suspiciously similar to Nintendo Zelda and was criticized therefor by Linux Games<ref>Linux Games - Podcast 4, October 3rd, 2006 - http://www.linuxgames.com</ref>.

In October an automatic updater for the client was implemented. This solved the problems of having to install new releases frequently because of the "[[release early, release often]]" development approach.

[[Halloween]] was celebrated in game as "Semos Mine Town Revival Weeks". The original Revival Weeks were motivated by development reasons to populate the huge city of Ados over the release time of two versions. But since then it had mutated into a recurring event.

Krakow Online Game was developed based on Stendhal (see next section).

In [[2007]] the cap at level 100 was removed in March. In May the first large quest chain was implemented. It allows players to organize their marrage to another player in game. Pets and housing have been introduced that year. Sometime during this year a new website was created which includes information from the game, like item stats and a hall of fame.

At the beginning of [[2008]] the NPC chatting system was reworked to allow players to talk to NPCs in a much more natural way.

At the end of 2008 the battle system was completely reworked to prevent players from camping for hours in game without paying attention to the screen. The new combat systems  made fights a lot quicker but also decreased the impact of stats gainable by camping.<ref>Stendhal Release Announcement: [http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thread_name=9ab2a5c20810030631rae7f78fo82449ab7429fad32%40mail.gmail.com&forum_name=arianne-announce 0.70: "Rules of War"]</ref>. Because of that change a fork of Stendhal with the camping-favoring combat system was created. This fork, however, dies after two release of the official game. {{Citation needed|date=October 2009}}

A research project called Player-like world was developed based on Stendhal to create a controlled environment that is used in online games research.<ref>Daniel Kario - Player-like world - http://www.player-like.org/content/FAQ.html</ref>

In [[2009]] the replacement process of the artwork by images created by the Stendhal developers themselves. A [[continuous integration]] environment was setup to ensure the quality of the source code by executing automatic tests on a daily basis. In September instanced fighting zones were implemented.

== Krakow Online Game ==

Krakow Online Game is a fork of Stendhal developed by the tourist department of the Polish city [[KrakÃ³w|Crakow]] and is hosted on the official city website since December 2006.

Its objective is to teach people about the beauties of Crakow. Therefor an additional continent has been added to the game which hosts a replica of the city. In difference to the comic style graphics of Stendhal, Krakow Online uses photos of real building and architecture.

On the day KOG was launched in December 2006, a tent with computers was placed at the market square in Krakow to celebrate the event.<ref>[[Gazeta Wyborcza]] - 16. December 2006 - <s>http://szukaj.wyborcza.pl/archiwum/1,0,4785641.html</s>(pay per view) (Polish)</ref> The servers could not keep up with the demand on the first day. But after the first few hours the situation stabilized.<ref>Valhalla - http://www.valhalla.pl/news2001-Gra-komputerowa-promuje-Krakow.html (Polish)</ref>

== Cities in Stendhal ==
[[Image:Stendhal World Map.png|thumb|Map of the outside world of Stendhal, not showing the dungeons because they are below earth level or inside caves.]]

; Semos City : Semos City is the town the workers of the nearby semos quarry once settled. It is populated by 40-50 persons. The defenses of Semos is now abandoned and moved to the capital Denirian. Semos' current weak state have forced them to make an emergency notice about heroes wanted in the help of town defense.

; Semos Village : Semos Village is the ancient town of Semos. It is now mostly abandoned, as most people moved to the newly founded City of Semos in the east. Nishiya the sheep seller, however, still lives here. Semos Village is the place where new players start the game.

; Ados : The rich coast city Ados is in a food crisis right now, since the farm town Semos is suffering constant attacks from monsters and thieves. Ados now pays high fees to good heroines and heroes that can help protect the town Semos and the food caravans that go between Semos and Ados.

: Near Ados there is a haunted area where a famous battle took place. The area is now populated by some spirits of those who died there. Take care because they don't rest in peace. 

; Nalwor : Nalwor is the main city of the elfs located south east of Semos in the Nalwor Forest. Be careful as elfs do not like humans and the soldiers will attack everyone they spot. The civils elfs living there, however, may sell valuable items even to humans.

== Development ==

Stendhal is developed as a total [[open source]] project. This means that unlike other games the source code for both the the client and the server is available. Because of its history the Stendhal projects is very skeptical about graphics found on the net that claim to be free. Therefore most of the art work is original.

The development of Stendhal is coordinated using the bug tracker offered by Source Forge and the IRC channel [irc://irc.freenode.net/#arianne #arianne] on freenode. People willing to contribute can do this in a number of ways, starting from reporting bugs and ideas about new features, keeping the documentation in the wiki up to date, to contributing graphics and code.

Stendhal is using [[The Cathedral and the Bazaar|release early, release often approach]] which lead to release roughly every four weeks. For every release a branch is created in the CVS repository. Starting with the day of the release, only serious bugs are fixed there. So people running their own server should monitor the branch for the version they are running.

==References==

<references/>

==External links==
*[http://stendhal.game-host.org Public server Website]
*[http://arianne.sourceforge.net Official Website]
*[http://arianne.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php?title=StendhalManual Stendhal Manual]

[[Category:Massively multiplayer online role-playing games]]
[[Category:Role-playing video games]]

[[pl:Stendhal (gra komputerowa)]]