Cascade: A Parallel Programming Framework for Video Game Engines

The Cascade Parallel Processing Framework (PPF) is a user level library that facilitates manual parallelization of complex C++ systems. In Cascade, processing duties of the system are enclosed in a Cascade Task. Tasks are linked by dependencies in a task dependency graph. The task graph is traversed at run-time by the Cascade Job Manager who assigns tasks to threads for execution. The Job Manager must correctly satisfy dependencies while maximizing performance. While a task-based PPF is not a new concept, Cascade's unique goal is to address complex systems, such as video game engines.