diff --git a/grid.c b/grid.c
index 2a486cf..830b5fb 100644
--- a/grid.c
+++ b/grid.c
@@ -96,10 +96,16 @@ void drawGrid(Grid* grid)
 	unsigned int width, height;
 	width = grid->width;
 	height = grid->size/width;
+	// Init color pair init_pair(index, fg, bg);
+	init_pair(1, COLOR_BLUE, COLOR_WHITE);
 	for (int y = 0; y < height; y++) {
 		for (int x = 0; x < width; x++) {
-			if (grid->state[toIndex(grid, x, y)]) mvprintw(y, x, "X");
-			else mvprintw(y, x, " ");
+			if (grid->state[toIndex(grid, x, y)]){
+				attron(COLOR_PAIR(1));
+				mvaddch(y, x, ' ');
+				attroff(COLOR_PAIR(1));
+			}
+			else mvaddch(y, x, ' ');
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index ad9f253..54b4fe3 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ int main()
 	bool running = true;
 	initscr();
 	raw();
+	// allows for transparancy when color values in init_pair(); are set to -1 or, no pair specified
+	// e.g init_pair(1, COLOR_WHITE, -1) would be transparent background but white text
+	use_default_colors();
+	start_color();
 	// doesn't wait for user to input.
 	// timeout(100) waits for 100ms for input.
 	timeout(0); 	
@@ -26,8 +30,9 @@ int main()
 	// stdscr is screen created by initscr()
 	getmaxyx(stdscr, height, width);
 
-	// hz
-	const int FRAME_RATE = 100;
+	// framerate of the game 
+	const int FRAME_RATE = 30;
+	const float FRAME_TIME = 1.f/(double)FRAME_RATE;
 
 	const int DELAY = (float)pow(10,6)/(float)FRAME_RATE;
 
@@ -41,14 +46,17 @@ int main()
 		char ch = getch();
 		if (ch == 'q') running = false;  
 
-		drawGrid(&grid);
+		float actual_frame_time = (float) t / (float) CLOCKS_PER_SEC;
 
-		refresh();
+		if (actual_frame_time >= FRAME_TIME) {
+			drawGrid(&grid);
+			refresh();
+			updateGrid(&grid);
+			t = 0;
+		}
 
-		updateGrid(&grid);
 		t += clock()-start_t;
 
-		usleep(DELAY);
 	}
 
 	endwin();