It might be that the JSON is invalid. Using http://jsonlint.com/, I found a few errors:

1. Arrays must contain a comma separated list of objects, value types or arrays. Writing

Code:

[ "rot": "0" ]

is not valid JSON, since it is neither a value, an object or array. It should be:

Code:

[ {"rot" : "0"} ]

, which creates an object with the variable "rot" with string value "0".

2. You have missed a few closing quotation marks.

Besides that, you might want to consider not using quotations around numerical values, because these will then be interpreted as strings instead.

I hope this helps.  

I've run in to a similarily impossible situation, and it turned out that there was a bug in the debugger in Visual Studio that made the expression in the if-statement evaluate wrong when viewing it. Maybe this is another case of that?

Thanks! I've been thinking about doing something with vector art lately, and this will be a huge help. 

Your steady work continues to baffle me, and you are a constant source of inspiration. Great job, keep it up!

You are a constant source of both inspiration and frustration interchangeably. It's inspiring to see someone working hard with such dedication, and yet the fact that get so much more done than me is frustrating.

Maybe I should give up these dreams of being a game dev, and just become a hot dog vendor? 

Anyways, great work! Please keep 'em coming! 

Just like the above poster I love the concept, although I really think that there needs to be some kind of consequence of you dying. Otherwise the game is just to easy all together.

Also, I think the controls need some revising. I found it very hard to be precise when jumping, because the player has such a high walking speed. Given that it's a concept, it's forgivable though.

Was playtesting a bit, and discovered that certain on certain parts of the map everything moves in fast-forward. My guess is that is has something to do with some frames rendering faster than others.

Otherwise, great game! I've been looking forward to playing it, and even as a tech demo it's awesome. 

I told myself right after LD19 that LD20 would be my first LD, but considering the 30th is Valborg (swedish holiday) and May 1st is my birthday I won't have the time.

Awesome tool! Can't wait for the next version. Have you considered making it open source?

GPCv5 has now started. Themes can be found here.

I really think GIMP could learn a lesson from Blender, which used to have a really cluttered and ugly UI but managed to improve greatly in that area in the new 2.5x release.

I absolutely love voxels, although I must say that I really adore the simple 2D graphics that you have now.

Oh my god, it's like Sophie's choice.  

EDIT: I'd also like to offer my services as a beta-tester, once you have something stable enough. 

Do you mean the feeling/missing smoothness of the immediate return, or is this linked to your upside-down idea?

I mean that the return to its original position feels kind of unreal, since it's just a rotation around its own origin. Don't know how you could do it better, but I was just stating it for arguments sake.

Regarding this: Won't it look strange when the background continues scrolling like you're flying really fast, but you seem to fly backwards? Or did you have something else in mind?

I actually did not think about it when I wrote the above, but you are of course right... it might seem a tad bit weird. 

(By the way, that sounds like a gamepad! Which one, and did it work well? Does plugging in while already playing work?)

I used my Xbox 360 Wireless gamepad, connected through a wireless receiver for my computer. It seems the controller has to be plugged in when starting the game for it to work, at least it did when I tried it now.

Great job on a great idea. I love the art and I can really see an unpolished gem in the gameplay.

Personally I don't really like how the plane ends its loop and immediately returns to the start position once I release the A-button. I think that you should allow the player keep going upside down (maybe this is an upcoming feature, though?).

Secondly, is there any way to climb up on the plane that you are grappled to? As it is now, I felt screwed once I grappled to the plane on the very bottom.

On that note, I must add that I haven't actually tried playing against anybody. Hoping for a future full-version, with networking.

Great work! 

This was a really interesting read. Can't wait for part two...

My name is Johan. I've been developing games on and off for the last few years, but my interest in games goes way back to the early 90's and our old Atari 520 ST. I've had a lot of different projects, although I never seem to get anywhere with them.

Right now I am developing an supposed entry for the Dream.Build.Play 2011 challenge, and prototyping a work sample that I'm supposed to hand over to a game company, that I'm hoping to get hired by, at the beginning of next week.