You're absolutely right that it's too similar to Crypt of the Necrodancer. I thought if I used that game as a base, some other unique ideas would spring from it being in 3D and make it different. So far those ideas have yet to be implemented and currently it's basically just Crypt of the Necrodancer 3D.
At the moment, the game does not punish you for missing the beat. It probably should, but I also want the game to be accessible to people who haven't played these kinds of games before. I've been thinking about how I could go about it while also making the game different from CotN:
- Following the beat is optional but the player can get more loot from enemies, so it makes the game easier to get into while rewarding experienced players for playing on beat.
- The player can switch between different rhythms. Successfully completing a switched rhythm could give some kind of buff like temporary invincibility or double damage. The player wouldn't have to manually select a different rhythm. Instead the game would detect what rhythm the player is going for. So each rhythm would have to be unique.
I'm not sure. What do you think?