--- a/pyntnclick/resources.py	Sat Feb 11 15:48:06 2012 +0200
+++ b/pyntnclick/resources.py	Sat Feb 11 15:48:04 2012 +0200
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 import os
 from pkg_resources import resource_filename
 
+import pygame
+
 
 class ResourceNotFound(Exception):
     pass
@@ -10,12 +12,15 @@
 
 class Resources(object):
     DEFAULT_RESOURCE_MODULE = "pyntnclick.data"
+    CONVERT_ALPHA = True
 
     def __init__(self, resource_module, language=None):
         self.resource_module = resource_module
         self.language = language
+        self._image_cache = {}
 
-    def get_resource_path(self, resource_name):
+    def get_resource_path(self, *resource_path_fragments):
+        resource_name = os.path.join(*resource_path_fragments)
         for path in self.get_paths(resource_name):
             if os.path.exists(path):
                 return path
@@ -29,3 +34,12 @@
                 paths.append(resource_filename(module, fn))
             paths.append(resource_filename(module, resource_path))
         return paths
+
+    def load_image(self, image_name):
+        image_path = self.get_resource_path('images', image_name)
+        if image_path not in self._image_cache:
+            image = pygame.image.load(image_path)
+            if self.CONVERT_ALPHA:
+                image = image.convert_alpha(pygame.display.get_surface())
+            self._image_cache[image_path] = image
+        return self._image_cache[image_path]

--- a/pyntnclick/tests/test_resources.py	Sat Feb 11 15:48:06 2012 +0200
+++ b/pyntnclick/tests/test_resources.py	Sat Feb 11 15:48:04 2012 +0200
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import os.path
 from unittest import TestCase
 
+from pygame.surface import Surface
+
 from pyntnclick.resources import Resources, ResourceNotFound
 
 
@@ -40,3 +42,9 @@
         res = Resources('pyntnclick.tests')
         self.assertEqual(data_path('images/pyntnclick/hand.png'),
                          res.get_resource_path('images/pyntnclick/hand.png'))
+
+    def test_load_image(self):
+        res = Resources('pyntnclick.tests')
+        res.CONVERT_ALPHA = False
+        image = res.load_image('pyntnclick/hand.png')
+        self.assertTrue(isinstance(image, Surface))