That was honestly a better response than I expected. I usually get the typical DB trying to yell at me for my opinion rather than provide a productive, honest response. Even if I disagree with the route, I understand how hard it can be to decide where a demo ends and the game starts. I do feel, especially in the world of modern gaming, that the ways demos and dev cycles get handled don't exactly make things easy for indie devs either.
People like me are the result of watching a predatory industry and feeling like we're staring at a keg of TNT ready to wreck the gaming industry. Between that and having grown up in the era both during and before flash gaming, I've watched the industry get chewed up by greedy investors and AAA titles that will never have half of the heart of an indie game. That's why I spend my time testing itch games and supporting indie devs.
Frankly, what you're making had a bit of nostalgia for a game called "motherload" for me, but more than that. By no means did I intend any put-down. I just prefer honesty with developers.
A thought to handle it:
You could have used a true false flag tied to a demo build that basically said "if this is a demo, don't let these things spawn or this content play, but let them dig as deep as they want". That's a bit of extra work and I can see how that might be unappealing to any indie dev, but it is a possible route.
Nonetheless, it was a fun game. My original words probably held a tired irritation from a long day. Apologies for that.