Related to my previous question Java Project - how to freeze Frame, Is it possible to darken the color of the main screen (make EVERYTHING gray or black and white) to highlight the player dialog box? How can I do that?
See the Glass Pane example for a complete example and explanation.
In general your glass pane can use an transparent background:
JComponent glassPane = new JPanel();
glassPane.setBackground( new Color(240, 20, 20, 100) );
frame.setGlassPane( glassPane );
Then when you want to show the dialog the basic code would be:
glassPane.setVisible( true );
JDialog dialog = new JDialog(...);
// add components to dialog
dialog.setVisible( true );
glassPane.setVisible( false );