i would like to have a shared material for multiple game objects but would like to also have a tint on some. The problem is that if i change the tint color on one, being a shared material, all game objects have that tint applied. Is there a work-around?
Nope.
If you want all the tinted ones to be tinted the same color, make 2 materials, one tinted, one not.
That way, batching will work and give you 2 draw calls instead of more if you would change the material (not shard) of each object.
If you want to tint each to a different color, then I think you are out of luck.
found a way to do this: vertex mesh coloring: here are the docs: