Unbirth was first started in late 2001 while I was still in the army. The basic idea was to make a horror game like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, but in first person, with more stuff to examine and a little less violence. After having written down some basic design (which was basically top down sketches of some maps), I started looking for an engine. Not having any earlier experience in 3D I started by examining the few free 3D engines that existed at the time, but none really seemed good enough. I discussed my problem with an online friend, Pierre, who were making a commercial 3D engine, and he said that I could use it for free and in turn he could use the game to show off the engine. This seemed like a good opportunity and although the engine was not complete, I would have contact with Pierre, meaning I could suggest changes and so on.