We truly, really have color

So, I buckled down and hashed out a simple java class to display my color. each character on the screen is made up of three parts:

*A Color object that will be applied to the background (a solid rectangle)

*A color object that will be applied to the foreground (whatever character is there)
*And of course, a char.

One thing that I just realized, while I intended to make the 'ground' beneath an agent transparent, so that the background color of whatever he/she is standing on will show through, I can actually show two kinds of information at a glance. One of the standard optional views will be to represent all of your characters by the direction they're facing, which could be the foreground (just a simple arrow) and the background color could be toggled from transparent to represent whatever stat you'd need. (It would likely be used most for TUs left/Health, whatever. Also, the color of the foreground character could be temporarily altered to show other information.

I'm not sure how complex this will get, it might me something as simple as having a small number of presets and then having another key that can cycle through the rest. (in case you need to find an agent quickly that is a good thrower. You could also toggle through the detailed information for each agent, as you could in X-Com, but that method was tiresome because you had to exit the detailed info screen to see where your agent was on the map.

In the picture I have included, the X is the agent, the darker brown areas are hard-packed earth that are being recalled from memory, while the lighter cone is the area currently being viewed. The solid black squares are unviewed, while the black squares with the % signs are the front landing gear of the skyranger.

It works.

I think that my next goal will be to make a new file with just the absolute basic structure of this project so far, mostly the display part, so that it can be a sort of framework for me to use in the future for perhaps a 7DRL. :-)