StendhalManual: Difference between revisions

=Introduction=

==What is Stendhal?==

Are you looking for adventure? Want to fight for riches?

Develop yourself and your social standing? Meet new people?

Do you want to be part of a brave new world?

Stendhal is a full fledged multiplayer online adventures game (MMORPG) developed using the Arianne game development system.

Stendhal features a new, rich and expanding world in which you can explore towns, buildings, plains, caves and dungeons.

You will meet NPCs and acquire tasks and quests for valuable experience and cold hard cash.

Your character will develop and grow and with each new level up become stronger and better. With the money you acquire you can buy new items and improve your armour and weapons.

And for the blood thirsty of your; satisfy your killing desires by roaming the world in search of evil monsters!

Stendhal is totally platform independent, written using Java 1.5 and the Java2D environment.

So what are you waiting for?! A whole new world awaits...

=Setting up the game=

== Creating a account ==

To create an account you must go to the [http://stendhal.ombres.ambre.net Account Register Site] and fill in the fields to complete the form.

Your account will be ready immediately.

== Downloading the game ==

You can run it directly using [http://arianne.sourceforge.net/jws/stendhal.jnlp Java Webstart] (this means you do not need to download anything, just click the webstart link and if Java is installed on your system the game will start) or you can download the compiled java program to your computer at http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/arianne/stendhal-0.12.zip?download

The best way is to use the Java Webstart as you will get updates automatically.

(Note: Java webstart will create a folder on your machine which will contain some necessary files for the game to run successfully. These files are small and inobtrusive so please do not worry about it)

== Customizating a character ==

<b>TODO</b>

=Controls and Game settings=

To control stendhal you need to use both a mouse and keyboard.

==Starting the game==

To launch Stendhal use [http://arianne.sourceforge.net/jws/stendhal.jnlp Java webstart] (Tip: Create a shortcut to this link on your machine so you dont have to come to the site everytime you want to play, you can just double click your shortcut) or by running the <b>stendhal-0.XX.jar</b> file that is in the stendhal download package.

Click on the <b>Login to Stendhal</b> button and enter your account information.<br>

Be sure to choose the server where you created your account (the name will be the same as the site you went to to create the account in the first place. The default option is probably correct) and finally click on Login to Server.<br>

A progress bar will appear and soon you will be connected to the world.

If the server is down (not online) you will get an error message explaining this. In this case either try again later or create a new account on another server.

==Basic controls==

===Move===

Use the <b>keyboard arrows</b> to move around the Map.

You must hold down the direction keys to make the character to move. Your character will collide with elements that exists on the world, like other players and walls.

You also collide with map borders. When you reach a map border your screen won't move any further and two things might happen:

* if an area exists next to the area you are in, you will move from your current area to the new area (you will be transfered to the new zone).

* if no area exists nothing will happen and you will simply collide and stop.

Signs in the game may help you to determine when areas exist.

===Face===

When attacking someone or talking to someone it is nice to face them. To do this press <b>Ctrl and a directional arrow</b> to face in that direction.

It is just a eye candy action as it has no effect on the game rules.

=== Other actions ===

Click the <b>right mouse button</b> over objects to see a contextual menu (which will include actions that can be performed on the object) and use the <b>left mouse button</b> to choose an action from the menu

You can click outside the area of the menu to abort it.

===Exit===

Press <b>ESC</b> to exit. You will be prompted again to either really quit or return to the game.

===Open Game Dialog log===

In case you have closed the game dialog (the area where all the text and game information appears) you can open it again with <b>Ctrl+L</b> (hold Control Key and L key)

This dialog contains all the important events that happen in game so it is advised to have it visible.

==Player comunication==

To communicate with other players simply type! Press <b>Enter</b> to send your chat message. A chat bubble will appear under your character and a new line will appear in the Game log dialog. This kind of communication is public and visible to every player in world, although you will only see text for players near you.

Alternatively you can write:

<b>/tell playername <i>chat Content</i></b>

This allows you to write to a single character privately. For example:

/tell miguel This game rules, really. I have rated it 10/10 :)

=Gameplay=

==Characters==

You can and must talk to other characters to get help and to find out quest to complete.<br>

There are several NPCs in Stendhal. All of them reply to <b>Hi</b>, so greet them and ask them for <b>help</b> or <b>quests</b>.

Some of them will <b>sell</b> and <b>buy</b> sheep, others <b>heal</b> you, and others are simply <i>"useless"</i>

==World of Stendhal==

Explore it! :)

==Combat==

Combat is an important way of increasing your level. You only get experience by killing. You can't improve your skills by training like in other games.

To attack a creature simply <b>left click</b> on it and choose <b>Attack</b>. You will see that a red box appears almost immediately around it. This indicates an attack is being carried out. You need to be next to the target in order to actually hit them though!

Your attack will continue until:

* you stop it using "Stop attack" action

* you press ESC

* you change zone (area)

* your target is dead

Combat is round based, and each round last around 1.6 seconds.

Each round the attack is resolved and the result is displayed in the right-bottom corner of the target:

* a cloud means you failed to hit the target.

* a shield means you hit the target but that you were unable to damage it.

* a blood drop means you hit the target and damaged it. Also you will see a red number pop out of the target indicating the amount of damage actually done.

If you kill your target you will see a blue number pop out which is the experience reward you have gained.

==Levels==

Your character has a level attribute that expresses how strong that character is.<br>

Levels are the only way of comparing your character against others.

With each kill or quest completed you are rewarded experience points (XP). If you get enough XP you will level up and gain a development point (a development point is a point to add to your skill in a number of different fields. This is the way in which you make your character stronger and better).

You can spend development points on:

* +1 ATK level (your attack skill)

* +1 DEF level (your defense skill)

* +10 HP points (your hit points, i.e. the amount of damage you can take before you die)

Once you have spent your point you can't undo your decision, so choose carefully. This allows you to properly choose the direction of skill your character will follow.

=Support=