I’ve been bouncing the idea around for a bit and I think its almost refined enough for feedback. Its a rogue-lite(like? one of the two.)
Story is basic. You’re the child of a renowned hunter needing to prove yourself or maybe the child of a bad blood needing to redeem your bloodline. Just something that explains away why you’re being sent on hunts with almost nothing to start with. I’d like to try to keep it like the first movie: hunting through a jungle, killing guerrillas until you find someone worthy. Kill them, claim their skull as a trophy, and escape. Maps will be procedurally generated along with the enemies and worthy prey, though there will always be some sort of base on the map somewhere, a place the worthy prey will head to and then away from. Upon leaving each hunt, you’ll gain honor, which can be spent on cosmetics to make your predator uniquely yours. Honor will be gained through a variety of methods, like skinning bodies to create areas the guerillas won’t go, killing the worthy prey’s allies first, more honor the more kills each trophy makes before dying to you, watching those kills take place, taking out the worthy prey in hand to hand combat, etc. Just watch the first movie again for ideas.
However, for upgrades and other mechanical improvements, you’ll have to earn those through challenges. Like killing fifty guerrillas in one hunt gets you extra speed or claiming a trophy after the body has been found by others gets you the combistick, etc. I don’t want any of them to be too difficult because I don’t want the rewards to be overpowered and a challenge like ‘claim every enemy on the map as a trophy without taking damage or being spotted in five minutes’ only to get a signal jammer would piss off anyone. I’ve been using AVP2 multiplayer classes, AVP Evolution gear, and PHG loadouts in my head for ideas on limits. There could be classes, or a series of stat changes like (+health -speed) or (+energy -mass) that way there is no objectively better choice. Alternative wristblades and plasma casters. All the great weapons and gear from the movies and beyond. Maybe a points system for balance, or just slots, or maybe categories. A selection of perks/skills with similar limits.
Putting it all together, you’ll eventually have the predator that fits your style and lots of room to experiment. And because of how much stuff is in the franchise, you can release more weapons and stuff down the line, either in updates or as part of dlcs. Speaking of dlcs, you could easily model them after other movies, and even sequels if the new content proves too much for the current engine. A city maps dlc with gangs and cops. An Aliens dlc to fight those instead of a hunt. A rural maps dlc with sheriffs and drawing out the military. A coop dlc to grab a couple friends and go on a hunt. A PVP dlc where you face off against another player in both a race to collect trophies and a fight/sabotage when you interact. A natives dlc to hunt against more primitive technology. A time trials dlc where its not procedurally generated and you just gotta do the hunt better and faster. Off worlds dlc where its not humans, but monsters.
There, its all out there. Hit me with it.