If you prefer not to use VS Code, you can use a Makefile to accomplish the same goal as the VS Code tasks. Create a file named Makefile in your project folder and populate it with the following contents (make sure that the file is using tabs, not spaces):

# This allows you to just run the "make" command without specifying
# arguments:
.DEFAULT_GOAL := build

# Specifies which files to compile as part of the project:
CPP_FILES = $(wildcard src/*.cpp)

# Flags to use for Emscripten emcc compile command:
FLAGS = -std=c++14 -O3 -s WASM=1 -s USE_SDL=2 -s MODULARIZE=1 
        --bind $(CPP_FILES)

# Name of output (the .wasm file is created automatically):
OUTPUT_FILE = public/index.js

# This is the target that compiles our executable
compile: $(CPP_FILES)
    emcc  $(FLAGS) -o $(OUTPUT_FILE)

# Removes the existing index.js and index.wasm files:
clean:
    rimraf $(OUTPUT_FILE)
    rimraf public/index.wasm

# Removes the existing files and builds the project:
build: clean compile
    @echo "Build Complete!"

The operations being performed are identical to the VS Code tasks, just in a different format using more universal tooling. The default build step is set in the file, so you can run the following command within your project folder to compile the project:

make

Now that you have a compiled Wasm file and JavaScript glue code, let's try running the game.