Thanks for checking the game out, and I'm glad you enjoyed yourself!
As far as the key goes, that may be a bug or your inventory may have been full when trying to get the key; I'll look into it and hopefully have a fix out with the other content next week. As of right now there's no manual saving, though that is a planned feature!
The game has been worked on for about 6 months now, half as a full time job and half as a part time one. I haven't heard of GDWC but I'll be sure to check it out, it looks like something right up my alley and could help spread word about the game plus be something fun to throw my hat into. Thanks!