Neon Run: the 3D game Claude Code built from one sentence

Every word in the prompt carries a decision, so Claude doesn't have to guess. "Neon" sets the whole look: dark background, glowing edges, a synthwave sun. "3D" makes it reach for a WebGL library (it used three.js). "Endless runner" is a genre with well-known rules: lanes, obstacles, pickups, rising speed, a score. "On my phone" adds touch controls, a portrait layout and no install. What you leave out, Claude fills with defaults that fit the genre.

1. Name the style in one word (neon, pixel-art, paper, low-poly).
2. Name the dimension (2D or 3D) so it picks the right tools.
3. Name a genre people know (endless runner, snake, breakout, tower defense).
4. Name where it runs (phone, desktop, both).
5. Keep it to one sentence. Add details in follow-ups, not up front.

Tip: Swap any word and you get a different game: "Build me a pixel-art 2D snake game I can play on my phone."

Official docs →

The game is a single index.html, so getting it onto a phone is just getting one file somewhere a browser can open it.

1. Fastest: AirDrop or email the file to yourself and open it in the browser.
2. Shareable link: drag the folder onto Netlify Drop (app.netlify.com/drop) and you get a public URL in seconds.
3. Or ask Claude Code to publish it to GitHub Pages for you.
4. On the phone, use Share → Add to Home Screen so it opens like an app.

Tip: The game loads three.js from a CDN, so the phone needs internet the first time you open it.

Once the first version runs, each follow-up changes one thing. Send them one at a time and play between each so you can see what changed.

1. Add a jump on swipe up so I can hop over low walls.
2. Add synthwave sound effects and a beat that speeds up with the game, using the Web Audio API only.
3. Add a shield power-up that lets me survive one hit.
4. Save my top 5 scores on this device and show them on the game-over screen.
5. Make it harder: moving walls after 1,000 points.

Tip: If something breaks, say exactly what you see ("the ship goes through walls in the left lane"). That beats "it's broken" every time.

The first version was playable straight away, in one HTML file. For the Reel we sent a few small follow-ups: a self-playing demo mode (so the gameplay could be recorded), a closer chase camera and a colour fix for newer three.js versions. The finished file is 375 lines, and none of them were written by hand.

1. A three.js scene: fog, a striped synthwave sun drawn on a canvas, wireframe mountains.
2. A scrolling neon grid floor made from one tiny canvas texture.
3. Three lanes, glowing walls and gold orbs, spawned so a row never blocks every lane.
4. Swipe, tap and arrow-key controls, and a speed that climbs to a cap.
5. Your best score saved on the device, a game-over screen and instant restart.
6. A demo mode (add ?demo to the URL) where the game plays itself.

Tip: Ask Claude to explain any part ("explain how the walls are spawned") — it's a good way to learn game code without reading all of it.

Official docs →