Mindscape and developers Outerlight today officially announced The Ship, another Half-Life mod gone commercial and will of course be powered by Valve's Source engine. It certainly does sound interesting, being set on a number of 1930's steam liners and seemingly a bit like a more action oriented Agatha Christie murder mystery.

Here's some character art and some small The Ship screenshots anyway. Anyone ever play the mod?

Mindscape today Tannoyed the September PC launch of The Ship, a first person maritime gaming experience set aboard a fleet of 1930s steam liners.

The Ship originally began life as a Half Life Mod and is now being crafted as a full single and multiplayer game in its own right by Edinburgh-based Outerlight, a talented and experienced team of coders and artists.

Blending traditional first and third person gameplay with a Sims-style day-to-day needs system - including food, sleep and social interaction - The Ship offers exploration, investigation, survival, stealth, intrigue and murder across beautifully crafted decking and highly-polished interactive environments.

On the Poop Deck, The Ship proudly boasts a number of modes of gameplay including Arcade Mode offline and Hunt, Elimination, Deathmatch and Duel, all online.

The Ship's gameplay revolves around 'the Hunt'. The rules of the Hunt are simple. Each player is given the name of one of the other contestants on-board and must hunt them down and kill them with any weapon they can find. Depending on the game mode, either the last hunter alive is the winner or the one with the most money in their bank account wins.

To be successful in the Hunt players will need to know their way around all of the liners in the fleet. Each Ship has its own secrets, including hidden rooms, passages and tunnels, extra weapons in special locations, environmental traps and triggers and 'extra special' ways of murdering.

Down in steerage, The Ship is propelled by Valve's mighty Half Life 2 Source Engine, ensuring a smooth-running passage through first and third person action adventure, navigating alongside role-playing elements.

On The Ship, you either kill or be killed.