Scene entity processing using flattened list of sub-items in computer game

Abstract

Embodiments relate to storing hierarchically structured sub-items of scene entities in a flattened list of sub-items and performing time-constrained tasks on the sub-items in the flattened list. By storing the sub-items in the flattened list, an approximate time for processing the sub-items can be estimated more accurately, and therefore, reduces the likelihood of making overly conservative estimate of time for processing the sub-items. One or more sub-items of updated scene entities are extracted by a plurality of collectors that are executed in parallel to store the one or more sub-items in the flattened list. The sub-items are then accessed by multiple tasks executed in parallel to determine priority information associated with inclusion and rendering in subsequent frames. Sub-items with higher priority according to the priority information is given higher priority for retrieving from secondary memory and saving in primary memory.