I haven't really looked into it but others here might have some pointers to some resources. If I were to do such a game I'd probably decide at the time how I'd do it depending largely on what my resources were and other things related to the graphics at hand.
General rule for support with general game related development is
http://www.gamedev.net/. You'll have to sign up but it's all free and there are many forums for asking these kinds of questions and past articles that cover a large number of subjects.
Lilith, Night Butterfly
I'm not a programmer but I play one in the office