Clearly, I'm new to this whole design thing. I've been passively working on a few game ideas over the last 9-10 months when I've had time. I've put all my ideas except one on the back burner as I focus on one game at the moment.

I know what I want to try and accomplish with my game, but as I flesh out concepts, it feels like it is getting less elegant, and more expensive to create. Yet, I don't think I'd be happy with the design if it were anything less.

To be less cryptic, this game is a cooperative superhero game.

I want players to be able to build their own superhero by combining three different power sets together. Each powerset will have two abilities in a primary, secondary, and tertiary category. Then they pick which power sets are their primary, secondary and tertiary sets. This ultimately gives them 12 abilities they can access any time (Given they have the power to spend on it).

For an example, Fire Blasting/Flying/Devices will give 6/4/2 abilities, respectively. Each ability with their own application, role, and cost. And combination like Healing/Teleporting/Martial Arts or even Flying/Devices/Fire Blasting would play and feel different.

Power is gained and spent through a deck building aspect. As you accomplish objectives, defeat enemies, and serve justice, you gain XP, which you can spend to earn/upgrade cards. You can push yourself to do the more powerful actions but you'll earn fatigue cards which clog up your deck. You can get injured, which both clogs up your deck, and lowers your HP when they show up.

There's also the board itself where the scenario is played out on. But on the board there can be things like car tiles that super-strength heroes can throw at enemies, or buildings/structures you have to navigate around.

Being a superhero isn't all about fighting the villain and their henchmen. It's also things like putting out house fires, saving people from falling, preventing a school bus from falling off a cliff, stopping purse snatchers.

I want there to be events that can present dilemmas. Maybe that previously mentioned school bus is about to fall, but the opportunity to get a leg up on the bad villain is almost too good to pass up?

And then there is the villain themselves. I don't want a generic villain you fight every time. I was actually thinking of having each villain have their own deck of cards, which either has the villain do an action, activates their gang, or progress their dastardly evil plan.

But I also have a reputation meter, so if they focus too much on stopping the villains and not the people, their reputation will diminish, and they'll either get disparaged or... they stop being "heroic" long enough for themselves to actually become the villain (One of the ways to become defeated).

This is a very rough outline of some of the mechanics and concepts I've come up with, but as I think of it - I feel it is becoming too massive to be practical or elegant.

If there are three power sets for each player and there are 4 players, that's a minimum of 12 unique power sets. (I have a lot more than that written out, but I'm thinking of component costs)

The power deck cards (Deck building aspect) would be a few decks of cards.

If villain has their own deck of cards to make them unique to each other, that's a few decks just with them.

Then all the additional tokens and markers... It all just starts adding up and it seems like it's "too much" and "too ambitious" and I haven't even gotten to the play testing phase yet. Am I getting in over my head with this project?

TL;DR My first fleshed out game concept feels too big for practical distribution. Any advice?