Transparent overlay (per-pixel alpha)

Hello all,

Is there a way to blit/draw TTF text on a surface using the source
per-pixel alpha values rather than the dest alpha? Or maybe adding the
alpha values (maxing at 255)?

I’m trying to create a transparent overlay surface with some truetype
text and an image with per-pixel alpha on it, that I can move around,
resize, rotate, etc as a whole. But whenever I draw text or blit an
image against the surface, it uses the surface’s alpha value, which is 0
in my case—not helpful. I had to set it to something else before I
could see what was happening.

If there’s another way to accomplish this I’d be interested in hearing
about it.

Thanks,–
William <@William_Morgan>