Using 256-color sprites on 16- or 32-bit backgrounds

[Powerless Newbie]

I'm trying to decide whether to run my game in high-color or 256 color mode. Putting aside for the moment the question of file size, download speed, etc., I have a few questions about the merits of each. I want to run the game at 800x600 resolution.

If I make the backgrounds 16- or 32-bit high color, will AGS still support 256-color sprites? I think it should but I'm not sure. If so, I could still use smaller palettized files for the sprites and gain the advantage of not having to shoehorn X number of images into a single 256 palette for a scene.

Does this make sense? Do other people use this method? Are there any drawbacks that I'm not thinking about? Thanks in advance.

[ThunderStorm]

I might have misunderstood you, but it seems to me that you got something wrong there:

The palette consists of fixed and open slots. The fixed ones are for character sprites, GUIs and everything that has to look the same in each room. The rest of the slots is variable for every background. So, if you have 56 fixed slots and 200 open ones (for example), one night scene background would use the 200 slots for different shades of black and blue, while a desert scene could fill them with white, yellow and red tones. You don't have to make each background use the same colors, just make sure they don't exceed the number of free palette slots.

Does this help?

EDIT: Ah, after re-reading your post, I think I know what you mean. You want to use 256 color sprites to reduce the file size, but not have to stick to the same 256 colors, right?
I guess it would work, but it's generally recommended to keep your whole game to the same graphics mode, i.e. high-color backgrounds and hi-color sprites.

[Powerless Newbie]

Thanks for the reply, ThunderStorm. One more general question for you all:

Having not made a whole lot of sprites in my life, is it generally considered easier to create and animate a 256-color sprite than it is to create a hi-color one? Or is the only real benefit to 256-colors that the file size is smaller?

[ThunderStorm]

The advantages of 256-color mode are a smaller filesize (useful if you want to distribute your game over the internet), and the games will run much faster even on older computers.
With 800x600 and 32-bit, you can drive even a new computer to its limits, while a 230x240 game with 256 colors will probably run fine on a 468 too.

[Powerless Newbie]

Thanks again. This is really helpful!