Reddit mentions of Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development: From Concept to Playable Game with Unity and C# (2nd Edition)

Are you looking for how to make games? Not just programming, but actually make them? I have some suggestions, but they often aren't about programming. There is a million books about programming, but finding those that talk about the ideas and ways to successively improve is a better point to start from.

• The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses
  
• Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games
  
• Kobold Guide to Board Game Design
  
  Making video games is easy. Put the pitchfork down and let me explain. Anyone can open unity and load some assets and call it a game. Making good games is difficult, and even if you are not looking at card/board games, you should be prepared to test your game on paper. It is easier to make iterative improvement if you can look for mechanical and mathematical issues by scrawling some notes on paper cards.
  
  For a book that covers both programming and game design, I also suggest this one.
  
  These books will cover the psychology, the pitfalls, etc that come with making a game. You do not need a class to make a game portfolio. You can often get things done faster by a book, because it's goal is to teach as you read, not set a timer for 15 weeks. It can assume you will do it over 26 weeks or more if the book is huge.
  
  Anyway, this is a much larger reply than I intended. Hopefully these are informative. If nothing else, they are significantly cheaper than a class.

Hey! Sorry for the late answer, I was drowning under school projects.

My personal favorite is Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping and Development. It gives a lot of on-point theory, it explains iterative design and good practices, and it's all clear and much more practical than your average game design book. The first part focuses on game design, the second part on programming (it's meant for beginners, so I just skimmed it) and the third one is a collection of 8 tutorials showing you how to make a prototype for 8 different kind of games. It's very clear and very complete. The only problem is that Unity is evolving so fast that the book might be obsolete too soon.

I have the first edition of that book that came out in 2014, and when I read it (in 2016), there was already several lines of codes that were outdated in the tutorials. (A second edition came out in 2017, I don't know how it is!). There's an official website that lists those lines and tell you what you should put instead, but it's a bit inconvenient. However, if your main interest is the game design part, you're good to go!

Another one that you might like is Challenges for Game Designers. I haven't gone through it yet, so I can't attest how good it is, but basically it's a book that switches between theory and practical exercises. I don't believe there's a book out there that provides that many exercises, so that's really good for sharpening your skills. It's also cool because you can design your games without having to implement them at all (they can even be though as board games!), so you save all the time of production and really just foster your design abilities, which seems to be your focus for the moment.

Finally, while not being a game design book per se, I highly recommend Derek Yu's Spelunky. It's a making-of written by the creator of the game himself, and it's full of great advice about game development in general. Also, as he explains the process of creating the game, if you pay attention to what he's saying, you can learn a lot about the craft without being given straight out theory.

I hope that fits your request! :) If you have any other question, hit me up! Also, I don't know why you asked about books specifically, but if you want any other recommendation in other format (videos, blogs, etc.), I will happily provide them.

A two-year degree can be a great way to start. If you plan on going on to a four-year school, look at getting as many of your "general eds" out of the way as you can. You can often do so much cheaper at a two-year school.

Also take whatever design and programming courses they have; this will only help you. A lot of places have programs under names like "Media Arts and Animation." Some claim to be game design when they're really focused on art (and some animation); others have at least intro game design courses too. Basically, anything that helps you make a game is going to be moving you in the right direction. If you don't know Excel for example, and they have a course on it, take it if you can -- you'll need that. Same with public speaking. Intro psych and even theater can help a lot as well.

While I wouldn't recommend going only with online resources, I wouldn't neglect them either. Watch "Extra Credits" and start listening to game design podcasts if you can.

If you don't know programming, Jeremy Gibson Bond's book is very good, as it combines a lot of game design background and Unity programming (like a lot of tools, Unity is free, which helps a lot). I'd recommend my book too of course, as I think it combines the realities of working as a game developer (chapters 11-12) with a thorough look at the game design process (chapters 5-8) and a deep dive into balancing (chapters 9-10), all based on a foundation of systems thinking (chapters 1-2) along with game design and interactivity theory (chapters 3-4). But hey, I may be biased. :)

Of the other game design books out there, Adams and Dormans may work well for you. Jesse Schell's book is the one a lot of people know, but I'm not sure it'd help you -- check it out online and see what you think though.

Game design is hard to do and it's highly competitive, which is why I so strongly recommend creating and finishing a game -- it's the best thing you can do for your career. Spending some time building a good foundation is worthwhile too of course.