external team to use it. Troika chose Source for its facial animation and lip-synching system since it wanted players to speak to the characters face-to-face. Since the engine was in development with Bloodlines and Valve's own Half-Life 2, Troika was working with unfamiliar code and tools, forcing it to write code to compensate for the unfinished engine and with only a single source of technical support. Troika developed a lighting system to create distinctive, moody illumination for the nighttime setting, a particle system for the special effects accompanying the vampire Disciplines, and a cloth system for clothing flow. Source lacked its later artificial intelligence (AI) coding, and Troika's code worked poorly with the Source engine. Writing Many central plot elements existed before designer Brian Mitsoda's involvement: the prince, the anarchs being upset, aspects of the Gehenna storyline, and Jack and the sarcophagus as a major subplot. The designers broadly tied the overarching story into each hub and level. Each designer controlled their assigned section of the game and worked with a small team, enabling quick decision-making and ease in keeping plot elements consistent. Mitsoda became the primary writer for many of the characters and their quests, dialog, and side content in the game, such as emails, which helped retain a consistent narrative. He was given freedom with respect to the script, with no restrictions on language or content, and could rewrite characters when he thought his initial draft was weak. Although Troika developed the story, it is inspired by White Wolf's Time of Judgment novels about a vampire apocalypse. Bloodlines story was accepted as canonical by White Wolf, with the game serving as a prequel to Time of Judgment and including characters from the White Wolf game, such as Jack. Discussing character design, Mitsoda said he tried to disguise the need for characters who point a player in an appropriate direction: You need a character to pose a problem or give out a quest or be a barrier of some kind. I don't like to make the [character] outright say "I need you to do X, then I'll give you Y" ... – it makes the character into an automated quest kiosk. I like the characters to come off like people actually do – they don't say "hi" when strangers come knocking, they say "who the hell are you?" or they're expecting you and know more than they let on,