The Ship (computer game)
Encyclopedia
The Ship: Murder Party is a first person shooter
computer game
using Valve Software
's Source engine developed by Outerlight
. The game was released on July 11, 2006, on Steam with retail distribution in Europe and Australia in September, and April 10, 2007, for North America. A playable concept for The Ship was released as a modification
for the game Half-Life in 2004.
The game is set on a 1920s recreational cruise ship
. Each player is assigned a quarry, and the object is to murder
him or her with nobody watching, while at the same time watching out for, and defending yourself against, your own hunter.
After (easily) dispatching his quarry, Charlie hears a young man whisper to him from a nearby third class cabin. Upon investigating, he is greeted (and complimented on how well he killed his quarry) by the young man who introduces himself as Jimmy the Bellboy. Jimmy explains that "Mr. X don't like no loose ends" and that he is planning on destroying the boat after the hunt is over—along with whoever wins. Jimmy then offers to get Charlie off the boat for $100,000. However, before he can start gathering money, Charlie has to deal with his own hunter. Jimmy suggests he find someone who looks just like him so he can fool his hunter.
Charlie notices someone who could definitely pass for him at the museum, so he steals a syringe full of sleeping potion from the sickbay and jabs the man with it, making him fall asleep on the spot. Charlie returns to Jimmy, who in turn tells Charlie's hunter he is in the museum asleep, therefore taking the target off Charlie's back.
With Charlie safe (from his hunter, at least) Jimmy sends him to the Vesuvius bar on Deck B, where Bruno, the bartender, has him steal wallets from rich customers and give him half of what's in them. This works for a while, but the guard become suspicious of their plot, and Charlie is forced to leave.
Jimmy then directs him to the Fence, a portly British man in Deck B's restaurant. The Fence has Charlie steal several treasures (including the Holy Grail), paying him more for each returned. He then has to escort an ambassador around the ship to complete his "mission". After the ship is picked clean, Charlie returns to Jimmy, who has been injured by an assailant who was soon jailed. He tells Charlie that he wants the man dead, and if Charlie does him in, that he will take him off the boat for $25,000 less. Charlie gets himself arrested by pulling a weapon in front of a guard and is hauled to the brig. Inside the brig, Charlie meets with a very large muscle-bound convict, who hints to Charlie about the whereabouts of a knife hidden in a Bible. The convict is shot dead by the guards, however, as he begins to become insane with rage as he talks about Mr. X and the Bermuda Triangle. Charlie finds the shank in a bookshelf and stabs Jimmy's assailant. Upon being released from the brig, Jimmy is ecstatic that his assailant is dead and gladly takes off $25K off Charlie's escape price. Charlie is then directed to a Japanese Yakuza
, who wants the captain of the ship dead for having an affair with his wife. After killing him, Jimmy tells him that the captain is still alive. After killing the captain, this time for real, Charlie is directed to Miss Tweed, who wants him to kill some kidnappers who took her dog. The player then meets with them, but upon seeing that he does not have the ransom money, they kick the dog off the ship, presumably to its death. After killing the kidnappers, Charlie returns to Mrs. Tweed, who sobbingly (due to her dog going overboard) gives him the money. After, Charlie returns to Jimmy who gladly accepts the reduced price, but tells him to do one last job, in which he has to go to the Radar room of the ship, and put the radar itself out, so when in the water he cant be spotted by the crew. Returning to Jimmy on the Boat Deck, he wishes him good luck, and that the two can maybe see each other again.
As Charlie floats away in his escape boat and Mr. X flies off of the ship in a helicopter, a massive explosion tears through the ship, seperating it in two, and starts to sink. It is then revealed that Mrs. Tweed's dog survived, as it pops out of the water. The screen suddenly goes black, which might of meant Charlie was hit by debris from the explosion. Charlie then wakes up in a hospital lying on a bed with a nurse treating him. Mr. X's voice is heard on the nearby speaker saying "Welcome ladies and gentlemen, welcome one and all..."
s, who have similar names and look the same as normal players. Each player is assigned a quarry, whom he or she must murder. The last known location of a player's quarry is always revealed to the player. However, the appearance of the quarry is only revealed if the player converses with the quarry.
There are several different weapon
s with which to eliminate one's quarry. Different amounts of money are rewarded for a kill depending on how difficult it is to use the weapon and how many times it has been used. If a player murders an NPC or anyone other than his or her quarry or hunter, a cash amount - dependent on the server settings - will be deducted from his or her bank account. Players with less than a certain figure, set by the server, in their bank account will be kicked from the cruise. Various weapons can be found scattered all around the ship, such as flare gun
s, fire axes
, firearm
s, knives
, sword
s, crowbar
s (which state "to be used by a free man" - an obvious reference to Half-Life
's storyline), even secret traps provided just for killing your quarry, like falling lifeboat
s, sauna
s, freezers, even a deck that turns into a 60 degree angle by command, among others. If a player is seen holding a weapon or committing a crime, he or she will be fined and incarcerated for a short amount of time.
If a player is seen pulling out a weapon in front of a guard or a camera, or spotted by eyewitnesses, then they are sent to jail. There is an "eye" symbol in the player's HUD
that tells them whether they are being spotted or not; if they are watched by security the eye turns red; if not, the eye is green. The meter for trespassing counts down and the player is fined when the countdown is complete (and, if they run out of money to pay the fines, go to jail). Guards can be bribed to overlook weapons.
Everyone has eight needs similar to The Sims
. Such needs are eating, drinking, sleeping, socialising, maintaining proper hygiene and using the bathroom. Some of the needs would cause impairment, such as lack of sleep would cause the player to fall asleep on the spot. Other needs could become fatal, such as thirst and hunger. If the player does not fulfill these needs, he or she will die, resulting in a loss of $1000. Needs are sated by going to restaurant
s, taking shower
s, talking
with other players, etc. This forces players into situations where they are vulnerable to attack, and also attempts to prevent players from camping.
. The game was released on 28 October 2010 for Xbox Live Arcade
and 29 October for Windows
. The game costs 400 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live Arcade and $9.99 on Steam.
Reviews
Communities
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
computer game
Personal computer game
A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
using Valve Software
Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States...
's Source engine developed by Outerlight
Outerlight
Outerlight is a small video game development company.Outerlight's first major title, The Ship, is a unique, first person multiplayer game set aboard dramatized early-1900s ocean liners. The commercial version was released through Steam in July, 2006. It was met with a favorable critical reception,...
. The game was released on July 11, 2006, on Steam with retail distribution in Europe and Australia in September, and April 10, 2007, for North America. A playable concept for The Ship was released as a modification
Mod (computer gaming)
Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...
for the game Half-Life in 2004.
The game is set on a 1920s recreational cruise ship
Cruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
. Each player is assigned a quarry, and the object is to murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
him or her with nobody watching, while at the same time watching out for, and defending yourself against, your own hunter.
Story
A mysterious man named Mr. X has handed out free tickets for his luxury cruise. Little did the passengers know they were falling into his devious trap. All the passengers are required to track down and murder another passenger. If a passenger chooses not to do so, Mr. X will kill both the passengers and his or her family.Single-player story
The single-player story begins with an introduction from Mr. X. He tells the passengers of his wish and warns that those too weak to play his "game" may be of use to the sharks, but not for him. The player assumes the role of Charlie Panther, second class passenger.After (easily) dispatching his quarry, Charlie hears a young man whisper to him from a nearby third class cabin. Upon investigating, he is greeted (and complimented on how well he killed his quarry) by the young man who introduces himself as Jimmy the Bellboy. Jimmy explains that "Mr. X don't like no loose ends" and that he is planning on destroying the boat after the hunt is over—along with whoever wins. Jimmy then offers to get Charlie off the boat for $100,000. However, before he can start gathering money, Charlie has to deal with his own hunter. Jimmy suggests he find someone who looks just like him so he can fool his hunter.
Charlie notices someone who could definitely pass for him at the museum, so he steals a syringe full of sleeping potion from the sickbay and jabs the man with it, making him fall asleep on the spot. Charlie returns to Jimmy, who in turn tells Charlie's hunter he is in the museum asleep, therefore taking the target off Charlie's back.
With Charlie safe (from his hunter, at least) Jimmy sends him to the Vesuvius bar on Deck B, where Bruno, the bartender, has him steal wallets from rich customers and give him half of what's in them. This works for a while, but the guard become suspicious of their plot, and Charlie is forced to leave.
Jimmy then directs him to the Fence, a portly British man in Deck B's restaurant. The Fence has Charlie steal several treasures (including the Holy Grail), paying him more for each returned. He then has to escort an ambassador around the ship to complete his "mission". After the ship is picked clean, Charlie returns to Jimmy, who has been injured by an assailant who was soon jailed. He tells Charlie that he wants the man dead, and if Charlie does him in, that he will take him off the boat for $25,000 less. Charlie gets himself arrested by pulling a weapon in front of a guard and is hauled to the brig. Inside the brig, Charlie meets with a very large muscle-bound convict, who hints to Charlie about the whereabouts of a knife hidden in a Bible. The convict is shot dead by the guards, however, as he begins to become insane with rage as he talks about Mr. X and the Bermuda Triangle. Charlie finds the shank in a bookshelf and stabs Jimmy's assailant. Upon being released from the brig, Jimmy is ecstatic that his assailant is dead and gladly takes off $25K off Charlie's escape price. Charlie is then directed to a Japanese Yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
, who wants the captain of the ship dead for having an affair with his wife. After killing him, Jimmy tells him that the captain is still alive. After killing the captain, this time for real, Charlie is directed to Miss Tweed, who wants him to kill some kidnappers who took her dog. The player then meets with them, but upon seeing that he does not have the ransom money, they kick the dog off the ship, presumably to its death. After killing the kidnappers, Charlie returns to Mrs. Tweed, who sobbingly (due to her dog going overboard) gives him the money. After, Charlie returns to Jimmy who gladly accepts the reduced price, but tells him to do one last job, in which he has to go to the Radar room of the ship, and put the radar itself out, so when in the water he cant be spotted by the crew. Returning to Jimmy on the Boat Deck, he wishes him good luck, and that the two can maybe see each other again.
As Charlie floats away in his escape boat and Mr. X flies off of the ship in a helicopter, a massive explosion tears through the ship, seperating it in two, and starts to sink. It is then revealed that Mrs. Tweed's dog survived, as it pops out of the water. The screen suddenly goes black, which might of meant Charlie was hit by debris from the explosion. Charlie then wakes up in a hospital lying on a bed with a nurse treating him. Mr. X's voice is heard on the nearby speaker saying "Welcome ladies and gentlemen, welcome one and all..."
Multiplayer gameplay
Each player is given a nickname by which they are identified. This is done to make it more difficult to tell players apart from NPCNon-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
s, who have similar names and look the same as normal players. Each player is assigned a quarry, whom he or she must murder. The last known location of a player's quarry is always revealed to the player. However, the appearance of the quarry is only revealed if the player converses with the quarry.
There are several different weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
s with which to eliminate one's quarry. Different amounts of money are rewarded for a kill depending on how difficult it is to use the weapon and how many times it has been used. If a player murders an NPC or anyone other than his or her quarry or hunter, a cash amount - dependent on the server settings - will be deducted from his or her bank account. Players with less than a certain figure, set by the server, in their bank account will be kicked from the cruise. Various weapons can be found scattered all around the ship, such as flare gun
Flare gun
A flare gun is a firearm that launches flares. It is typically used for signalling, as distress signalling, at sea or from the ground to aircraft...
s, fire axes
Axe
The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...
, firearm
Firearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s, knives
Knife
A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...
, sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
s, crowbar
Crowbar (tool)
A crowbar, a wrecking bar, pry bar, or prybar, or sometimes a prise bar or prisebar, and more informally a jimmy, jimmy bar, jemmy or gooseneck is a tool consisting of a metal bar with a single curved end and flattened points, often with a small fissure on one or both ends for removing nails...
s (which state "to be used by a free man" - an obvious reference to Half-Life
Half-Life (series)
The Half-Life series of video games share a science fiction alternate history. Nearly all of the games are first-person shooters on the GoldSource or Source engines, and most are linear, narrative, single-player titles....
's storyline), even secret traps provided just for killing your quarry, like falling lifeboat
Lifeboat (shipboard)
A lifeboat is a small, rigid or inflatable watercraft carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard ship. In the military, a lifeboat may be referred to as a whaleboat, dinghy, or gig. The ship's tenders of cruise ships often double as lifeboats. Recreational sailors sometimes...
s, sauna
Sauna
A sauna is a small room or house designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these and auxiliary facilities....
s, freezers, even a deck that turns into a 60 degree angle by command, among others. If a player is seen holding a weapon or committing a crime, he or she will be fined and incarcerated for a short amount of time.
If a player is seen pulling out a weapon in front of a guard or a camera, or spotted by eyewitnesses, then they are sent to jail. There is an "eye" symbol in the player's HUD
HUD (video gaming)
In video gaming, the HUD is the method by which information is visually relayed to the player as part of a game's user interface...
that tells them whether they are being spotted or not; if they are watched by security the eye turns red; if not, the eye is green. The meter for trespassing counts down and the player is fined when the countdown is complete (and, if they run out of money to pay the fines, go to jail). Guards can be bribed to overlook weapons.
Everyone has eight needs similar to The Sims
The Sims
The Sims is a strategic life-simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. Its development was led by game designer Will Wright, also known for developing SimCity...
. Such needs are eating, drinking, sleeping, socialising, maintaining proper hygiene and using the bathroom. Some of the needs would cause impairment, such as lack of sleep would cause the player to fall asleep on the spot. Other needs could become fatal, such as thirst and hunger. If the player does not fulfill these needs, he or she will die, resulting in a loss of $1000. Needs are sated by going to restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s, taking shower
Bathing
Bathing is the washing or cleansing of the body in a fluid, usually water or an aqueous solution. It may be practised for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes or as a recreational activity....
s, talking
Speech
Speech is the human faculty of speaking.It may also refer to:* Public speaking, the process of speaking to a group of people* Manner of articulation, how the body parts involved in making speech are manipulated...
with other players, etc. This forces players into situations where they are vulnerable to attack, and also attempts to prevent players from camping.
Spiritual sequel
In September 2010 Ubisoft and Outerlight announced Bloody Good TimeBloody Good Time
Bloody Good Time is a first person shooter developed by Outerlight and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows and Xbox Live Arcade. It was released on 28 October 2010....
. The game was released on 28 October 2010 for Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
and 29 October for Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. The game costs 400 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live Arcade and $9.99 on Steam.
External links
Official- The Ship Archive of the official website
- The Ship, Steam website
- Archive of The Ship (mod) official website
Reviews
- Gamespot 8.3/10
- 76% on Metacritic
- Review on VGRC.net 8 out of 10
- The Ship at Gamerankings.com - composite score 72.8%. Retrieved 2006-09-10.
Communities
- International The Ship Community Unofficial Steam community