Just reading some of your questions.

When using delphiX you could port your work quite easily.

The individual Tbitmaps32s would be images in the dximagelist.

You do not need to erase individual element to achieve animation. At the start of every frame the entire screen is blank and you build all the elements onto the screen. i.e. each frame you draw all the walls and particles and lemmings. This is done so quickly that it feels like the objects are animated.

Which sounds like what you are proposing to do.

I am surpised you managed all this with graphics32 I found graphics32 good but of limited use and quite a pain to maintain.