# Start Here

Welcome to **Deadline Run** — a real, playable 2D office platformer, already
built. In the next hour you're going to explore it, run it, make it yours,
and publish it. You will not write code.

## What this project is

A 60-second learning game. Bob asks you to check something before it goes
out (an email, or a form — depending on the scenario). You spot three
problems by clicking them. Then the mission drops: it's 4:59, and you have
until 5:00 to run across the office and tell Kate. Coins, a coffee
power-up, swinging cables over live electrical trenches, and four office
enemies stand between you and her.

It's built as one self-contained file — no installs, no build step, no
external services. Everything it needs is already in this folder.

## How to run it

**To play the game:** double-click `deadline-run.html` (or drag it into a
browser tab). No server, no setup.

**To open Claude Code:** open this folder — the one with `deadline-run.html`
directly inside it — in **VS Code**, then Terminal → New Terminal, and type
`claude`. That's what we use in the workshop. Opening a folder *above* this one
is the single most common setup mistake: Claude won't pick up the project's
instructions, and the same wrong folder breaks publishing at the end.

If you'd rather use the Claude Code desktop app, open it and point it at this
same folder — every prompt in the workshop is identical either way.

## The two files that matter

- **`deadline-run.html`** — the whole game. Near the top is a small block of
  numbers (timer length, jump height, speeds) and a `SCENARIO` switch that
  picks between the two built-in learning scenarios. That's almost
  everything you'll ever touch directly — and usually you won't even touch
  it yourself, you'll just describe the change to Claude.
- **`CLAUDE.md`** — the instructions Claude already has about this project:
  what it is, how it's organized, and what's safe to change. You don't need
  to read it yourself. Claude already has.

Everything else — `scenarios/`, `assets/` — is reference material and art
that Claude will use on your behalf when you ask for changes.

## Your first prompt

Open Claude Code in this folder and paste this in:

> Explore this codebase and walk me through it using the EMMA framework.

**What working looks like:** Claude greets you, explains the game in plain
English, and stops — telling you to type `Ready to Model` when Rachel says so.
It should *not* send you off to play the game yet; that's the next stage.

If instead you get a generic code tour with no **EMMA STAGE 1 of 4** banner,
Claude didn't load this project's instructions — you almost certainly opened
the folder *above* this one. Close Claude Code, reopen the folder that has
`deadline-run.html` directly inside it, and try again.

From there, follow `PARTICIPANT_GUIDE.md` for the rest of the session.
