I grasp everything you're saying. It makes perfect sense. I've been able to make major speed improvements by making the graphics buffer a global variable and only create it once.
To clarify, I want to limit the frame rate to 60 fps in the finished product, but I turn off the throttling in development to gauge how "heavy" the blitting is in different parts of the game. My worry is that if the frame rate is too low WITHOUT throttling then the speed is going to go below 60 fps when there are one too many sprites on a particular part of the level. It makes me think I'm seriously wasting my time.
I appreciate all this help, I really do.
