The game is inspired by Donkey Kong (with the first level layout acting as an homage) amongst other gorilla-based media (for example, King Kong, one of the inspirations of Donkey Kong). Ultimately though, its inspirations are from a variety of long-term interests of mine (such as construction gear)! And believe it or not, the name "DE" is NOT actually derived from "DK" but rather a different past project of mine.
Slower tank-like controls were something I thought were fun when done right so I tried my hand at building a game with it. The use of a gorilla as the player sprite is in hopes that the player inherently has an understanding of the character's weight and heft.
In the arcade Donkey Kong, DK is at the top and is very menacing. I didn't have the ability to make a big bad guy stationed at the top of the screen (though I wanted to have one to indicate where the enemies are coming from) so I opted for the construction crane since it required stationary imagery as opposed to a large animated sprite.
The slow controls and sprite limitations (including hit-box limitations) made perfect sense to have a gorilla be the playable character navigating a construction zone run by the tiny fellow. So it was from these (and a few other) design decisions that the "reverse Donkey Kong" feel formed!