Hi, thank you for such a detailed review :D (i also love deep sea and the underwater type of stuff)
when i made the game i didn't really think about giving the player a chance to win, i tried to make him defenceless, but i think there should be a way to lose the smaller fish or to push it away for longer, so the player gets some time to rest.
it wasn't a JAWS reference, but it might as well could be.
I tried to make a custom cursor, but i don't know how to do that (I could've watched a youtube tutorial). But i think to remove the cursor entirely is a better idea. With the screen brightness, yes i think I should have made a bit more darker, i also thing it maybe cool to make an animation for brightness that it from time to the light gets dimmer (like in horror movies/films the lights blink/flicker).
I don't think i would work on this game alone, but with a collaboration i would be happy to work and improve the game. We could collab (it would be my first)