CS5850 (Building Game Engines) course reviews and ratings at Northeastern (NEU). Average rating 5.0/5. Compare professors with RateMyProfessor reviews.
Discusses the components of game engines and strategies for their software implementation. Includes graphics management algorithms (animation, scene graph, level of detail); basic artificial intelligence algorithms (search, decision making, sensing); and related algorithmic issues (networking, threading, input processing). Explores the use of data-driven software design. Offers students an opportunity to use a rendering engine and to build and integrate several software components to create a complete game engine. Requires students to work on individual assignments and then develop a project in a team, which requires a report. Offers students an opportunity to learn team/project management; work division; team communication; and the software development cycle of implementation, testing, critique, and further iteration. Requires knowledge of computer graphics, differential calculus, operating systems concepts, and algorithms.
Data updated October 2026.