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Hey thanks for playing! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it, I was hoping the more atmospheric elements would carry through some of the rougher parts of the demo.

I always liked being able to rummage around and find hidden notes and documents in games, so I wanted some as a little reward for the player looking into some optional side areas. I also tried to avoid making the notes read like they were written just to sound scary, and considering most of them were written during crunch I think I was partially successful.

I'm honestly quite happy with how most of the phone UI turned out. Early on I thought I may have to cut it out, but people have liked it and haven't been too confused and I'm happy that's the case for you too. But you're absolutely right about how much of the phone is underutilized in the demo level. The QR code is only used once, you never have to refer back to the notes, and you're only required to use the camera once. I actually had several ideas for how these mechanics could be used more extensively, but of course weren't implemented due to running out of time near the end of the term. The phone definitely takes up too much space as it is, its partially so big just because I found earlier in development the world space UI could become blurred if it was too small or far away. But having it a bit smaller with an option to zoom in and "quicklook" at the widgets would be a nice addition.

You'll be happy to hear that the first item in my list of planned improvements when I release the next major update is to integrate the save system I created for another project. So far no one who has played the demo other than myself has survived that first encounter with the monster. I think its a mix of the stealth elements being barely explained/used, the sound of the monster moving in the vent is too subtle and it jumps down a bit too late. Most players I've spoken to/watched either just run right out of the room and the monster sees them right away, or they don't notice the flashlight is still on or they're illuminated enough for the monster to see them.

The design of the level also isn't the best for introducing the monster, as it doesn't show off what it can do. The monster can crawl through vents, on walls and ceilings, and jump up/down through vents in the ceiling. But if you don't manage to progress past that first room, you never see any of those behaviors, and most people I imagine assume the first vent drop is entirely scripted. In one livestream I watched, the player got outside that room but didn't open the locked door so they started running/jumping around in confusion. The monster heard this and so went to investigate. But since the player closed the only door into the room, the monster had to go back up through the vent and walk across the top of the map (like the xenomorph in Alien: Isolation). When it was about to jump down through the vent in the hallway outside, the player just happened to be standing underneath, so the monster saw the player immediately and killed them. So the player was killed instantly without even knowing/seeing what killed them, which across more as the game being bullshit than having a more complicated AI.

I've seen/heard mixed things regarding the physics interactions, the streamers I watched seemed to have a rough time with the interactions but never complained. A friend of mine said most of it was good but the doors were killing him because he kept hitting himself, and for myself I'm so used to it and have played so much Penumbra/Amnesia I can move anything quickly. If its specifically an issue with the speed of the movement then that might honestly just be your mouse. That's not to say there aren't other issues, I certainly want to make it possible to move doors/drawers by the player character moving rather than just the mouse. It's worth noting that the motion needed for moving some objects can vary based on what direction you're grabbing something from, but that doesn't sound like the issue here. A sensitivity slider for physics interaction is a good suggestion, I'll have to keep note of that.

No apologies needed for the essay, I love getting detailed feedback. Just don't be surprised if you get an essay in return ;)

Good luck to you as well, I'll try to get to you entry soon.