ASL Play

Two prototype games for learning American Sign Language fingerspelling.

🤚

Learning App

Tap-to-match card games that build from handshapes to full signed sentences.

  • Match the hands
  • Hands to letters
  • Spell the word
  • Build the sentence
  • Read real signs
Play →

Works on phone & desktop

 🕹️

ASL Pac

An arcade maze game — steer Pac‑Man to eat handshape letters in spelling order.

  • Swipe, tap the arrows, or use WASD
  • Eat letters in the right order
  • Yellow dots are bonus points
  • No lives, no timers, no failing
Play →

Works on phone & desktop — best in landscape
These are early prototypes. The artwork is placeholder material sourced from Wikimedia Commons and has not yet been reviewed by a Deaf consultant or fluent signer. Some signs involve movement that a still image cannot show. Please treat this as a demo of the game mechanics rather than a finished ASL teaching tool.

Quick Start: change this project yourself

Both games are built with Claude Code, an AI assistant that edits code from plain-English instructions in your terminal. Here is the whole path from a fresh Windows machine to your own change running in a browser.

For Windows 10 (1809 or newer) and Windows 11, 64-bit. Every command below goes in PowerShell — press Win, type PowerShell, hit Enter.

  1. Install Git and Node.js

    Two free tools the project needs. Install both, then close and reopen PowerShell so it picks them up.

    • Git for Windows — downloads code and tracks your changes. Accept the default options.
    • Node.js — runs the learning app. Get the LTS version; it must be 22.13 or newer.

    Check both worked:

    git --version
node --version

    Each should print a version number. If one says “not recognized”, reopen PowerShell, and reinstall if it still fails.

  2. Install Claude Code

    One line — it installs for your user account only, no admin rights needed:

    irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex

    Then confirm it landed:

    claude --version
    “running scripts is disabled on this system”? Windows blocks scripts by default. Run this once, then retry the install: 
    Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
    “claude is not recognized” right after a successful install just means your PATH is stale — close PowerShell and open it again. If it persists, run claude doctor from %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin.

  3. Log in

    Start Claude Code and it opens your browser to sign in:

    claude

    The terminal prints Login successful when you are done. Type /exit to leave for now.

    Claude Code needs a paid plan. A Claude Pro or Max subscription, a Team or Enterprise seat, or a Claude Console account with API credits. The free Claude.ai plan does not include it.

  4. Download this project

    This puts the code in a folder called ASL_app inside your user folder:

    cd ~
git clone https://github.com/TacoTruckGames/ASL_app.git
cd ASL_app

    Git will pop open a browser to connect your GitHub account the first time.

    “Repository not found”? This repo is private, so your GitHub account needs to be invited to it first. Ask for access, then run the clone again.

  5. Run the learning app

    Install its dependencies once, then start it:

    cd webapp
npm install
npm run web

    npm install takes a few minutes the first time. When it finishes, npm run web prints a local address — usually http://localhost:8081. Open it and you should see the five levels. Leave this window running; press Ctrl+C to stop it later.

  6. Make your first change

    Open a second PowerShell window so the app keeps running, go to the project, and start Claude Code: 

    cd ~\ASL_app
claude

    Now just ask, in plain English:

    Add a new word VAN with a van emoji to the Level 3 word list

    Claude Code finds the right file (webapp/src/theme.ts), shows you the exact edit, and asks before changing anything. Approve it, and the running app reloads on its own — no restart needed.

    Not seeing VAN? Level 3 picks six words at random from the list each time, so replay it a few times. Nothing is broken.

    Good follow-up things to ask it:

    What does this project do?
Make the Level 1 cards wiggle faster
Add a new CVC word for every letter of the alphabet
Explain how the celebration animation works

  7. Keep or undo your work

    Nothing you do is permanent until you commit it. To see what changed, or throw it all away:

    git status
git diff
git checkout .

    That last command discards every uncommitted change and puts you back where you started, so experiment freely. You can also just ask Claude Code to commit for you.

Where things live

webapp/src/theme.ts
Colours, and every word and sentence the learning app uses. The easiest place to start.
webapp/src/MatchGame.tsx
Levels 1 and 2 — the card matching.
webapp/src/SpellGame.tsx
Level 3 — spelling a word from scrambled handshape tiles.
webapp/src/SentenceGame.tsx
Levels 4 and 5 — reading a signed sentence.
PacMan/
The arcade game, built in Godot 4.6. Needs the Godot editor rather than Node.js.
DESIGN.md
Why the games are built the way they are. Worth reading before a big change.

Claude Code docs: install · quickstart · troubleshooting