Casablanca Port Authority

An Adventure Game

Level 1: Everyone Comes to Jacques

Backstory: It is June 1941 in Vichy France controlled Casablanca. You are Jacques Jules Babet, a douanier, a customs agent in charge of inspecting incoming cargo. Last night a German cargo ship arrived with unusual freight consisting of several large cargo containers and a large tarp covered cylinder which has since been moved off of the ship and into the next berth. The German shipment has not been inspected yet and the job falls to you as the officer on duty tonight.

  1. Customs Office: Your office which you share with the Principal Controller, your boss and the ranking official at the port.
  2. Cargo Containers: Offloaded from the German ship yesterday evening, they are bolted shut with heavy padlocks. In order to inspect them you’ll need to have someone from the ship open them for you.
  3. Warehouse A: Perishable goods and cargo waiting to be claimed is kept in this building. You always have access to this warehouse.
  4. Warehouse B: Non-perishable goods and secure cargo are kept in this building. Only the Principal Controller has access to this building, if you need to retrieve something from here you’ll need to talk to him first.
  5. German Cargo Ship: Docked here yesterday evening. A cursory inspection of this ship was made earlier today. No further inspection is necessary.
  6. Tarp Covered Berth: The German’s offloaded this quickly after arrival. They haven’t let anyone near it and there are always at least three large sailors from the ship milling about. All cargo needs to be inspected and this is no exception.

Walkthrough:

Your shift starts in the customs office (1) when your receive your orders from the Principal Controller who, after handing you your checklist announces his intentions to spend the night getting drunk on cheap wine in the office.

Checklist:

–          Inspect Cargo Containers

–          Inspect Tarp Covered Berth

The first item on your checklist is to inspect the cargo containers (2) that have been offloaded from the German ship. Unfortunately the cargo crates are all bolted shut. If you go back to the customs office (1) and ask the tipsy Principal Controller (he works fast) about this, he will tell you that he didn’t order the crates to be locked and suggest you talk to the Germans if you need the crates unlocked. If you walk up to the German sailors skulking around the tarp covered berth (6) one of them will walk over to the crates (2) with you and unlock them one by one closing and locking each after you inspect them. The last crate is opened and is empty. The sailor tells you that the box contained low-grade explosives that have been moved to the secure cargo building (4). As the sailor walks back to the tarp covered berth (6) a new objective is added to your checklist: Go to Warehouse B and Inspect Explosives

*** Hidden Side Quest ***

There is another way to do this however. If you successfully sneak past the sailors near the tarp covered berth (6), you can make your way onto the German ship (5). At the top of the gangplank there is a crate with a key ring and a shipping manifest. Grabbing both, Jacques will note that this shipping manifest looks different from the one on file in the customs office (1); listing a shipment of guns that does not appear in the manifest you were given. If you continue sneaking around the ship you will be caught very quickly and thrown unceremoniously off of the ship. The keyring is marked “Cargo Crates” (which is written inexplicably in English even though this is a German ship docking at a French port, go figure.) will allow you to inspect the cargo crates (2) yourself. When you get to the crate that held the explosives you note that this is also the crate that should hold the shipment of guns. A new objective is added to your checklist: Go to Warehouse B and Inspect Explosives. In addition a new (optional) item is added to your checklist: Find Shipment of Guns.

After inspecting the crates your next task is to inspect the mysterious object under the tarp (6). Unfortunately with the sailors apparently guarding it there doesn’t seem to be a way to do that. If you attempt to interact with the tarp they will push you away and say the cargo under the tarp has already been inspected. Suddenly a loud crack is heard from the deck of the German ship (5) accompanied by a flash of light. The sailors react immediately and run towards the ship’s berth. If you take this opportunity to try and interact with the tarp you will hear the sailors returning and commenting that, “It was just Hans screwing around with fireworks again, he’s ‘guarding’ the gangway now so we can keep an eye on him”[1] before seeing you and shoving you away from the tarp with such force that a bit of your health is taken off. Any repeated attempts to interact with the tarp directly have the same result. A new objective appears: Find a Way to Distract The Sailors.

*** Hidden Side Quest ***

If you have the “Find the Shipment of Guns” activated, lights and the sounds of people shouting can be heard from Warehouse A (3). Opening the door to Warehouse A you’ll find that some German sailors have a drinking card game set up. Four of them are gathered around a makeshift table sitting on crates that they are using as chairs. Jacques will remark to himself that one of the crates looks like it came from the German ship. As you approach the group one of the sailors slumps over, passed out drunk to the delight of the rest of the less than sober sailors. They will invite you to join the game and take the place of their fallen comrade. If you accept you begin a game that looks a lot like blackjack (okay, it IS blackjack). At the end of a round if you have the lowest number or have gone over 21 you must take a shot. Drink to many shots and you pass out. You win if you can outlast the sailors. If you lose and pass out, you wake up a few hours later to an empty warehouse, the crate from the German ship gone and the “Find the Shipment of Guns” objective on your checklist grayed out. If you win however, you can inspect the crate and find the shipment of guns. As this was not in the reported shipping manifest you “confiscate” one of the guns for yourself and the “Find the Shipment of Guns” objective is checked off.

The next item on your checklist is to “Go to Warehouse B and Inspect Explosives”. Passing by Warehouse A (3) on the way you remark, “That is Warehouse A; I need to go to Warehouse B”. Arriving at Warehouse B (4) you discover it to be locked. A new sub-objective is added to the “Go to Warehouse B and Inspect Explosives” objective: Get Secure Cargo Warehouse Key from Principal Controller. You head back to the customs office (1) to find the Principal Controller passed out drunk next to several bottles of cheap wine. Interacting with the body you take the secure cargo warehouse key and the sub-objective is checked off your list. With the key in hand you unlock and enter Warehouse B (4). Finding a crate marked “Danger: Explosives” you open it and find… fireworks. That sailor wasn’t kidding when he called them “low-grade explosives”. You proceed to pocket a few before resealing the crate. The “Go to Warehouse B and Inspect Explosives” objective is checked off your list. The only remaining objectives are “Inspect Tarp Covered Berth” and “Find a Way to Distract The Sailors”.

It should be clear to the player that they must use the pilfered firecrackers to distract the sailors. If they try to sneak past the sailors (6) and onto the boat (5), Hans will stop you from entering. If the player takes more than a few minutes to figure out the solution Jacques will begin saying things like “I need to distract the sailors so I can take a look at what is under that tarp” and “I need to use these firecrackers to distract the guards” and finally “If I throw these firecrackers onto the boat deck I would probably have enough time to take a peek under that tarp”. If the player tries to use the firecrackers anywhere else but next to the German boat’s berth (5) they will not explode and Jacques will disappointedly exclaim, “A dud!”

Once the player throws the firecrackers onto the boat deck several flashes and reports ring out and all the sailors rush to investigate. As you rush to the tarp covered berth (6) a German sailor spots you and rushes to stop you. When he gets close enough you will enter combat mode and defend yourself against the sailor using your fists. *** If you have the pistol you will use it as a melee weapon instead of your fists. The pistol does far greater damage than your fists and one to two blows should be enough to defeat the sailor. *** Once you’ve defeated the sailor you can interact with the tarp covered berth.

In a cutscene you lift up a corner of the tarp to reveal a large submarine. Looking closer you discover a United States flag marking on the side of the submarine and the prefix “USS”. Shocked you comment, “A submarine? From America? But what is it doing…” You never get a chance to finish that question as you are knocked out by a blow to the back of the head.

Level Ends

[1] This is said in German and displayed in captions so that there is no way the player could miss it. This line is also said if you don’t try to inspect the tarp covered berth while they are distracted.

Home|Projects|Resume|About Me