How to play

Walk the ward. Open a ring. Step into the moment.

FirstPoint plays in your browser — no install. Move your character around the department, walk into a glowing ring to open it, and follow the moment from feeling it to supporting a colleague through it.

Controls

  • Move with the mouse. Press and hold the left mouse button to walk toward the cursor; release to stop.
  • Or use the keyboard. Walk with W A S D or the arrow keys.
  • On touch, hold to move. Touch and hold to walk toward your finger; lift to stop.
  • Open a ring by walking into it. Glowing rings mark what you can do. Walk into one to open it.
  • Sound & narration. There is a sound toggle, so you can play with audio and narration on or off — whatever suits where you are.

What the rings mean

Green — Scenario Blue — Lessons Purple — Resources
  • Green — Scenario. The playable moment. You live the difficult event first-hand, then flip the camera and practise being the first point of contact. This is where the action happens.
  • Blue — Lessons. Short, practical teaching tied to that room’s scenario, split across Before, During and After the moment — for example, what a startle reflex actually is, open vs closed-loop communication, or naming it out loud to the team. Bite-sized “what’s really happening” explainers you can read in under a minute.
  • Purple — Resources. Things to take away and use afterwards — a one-page read, a short watch, and a pocket card to carry (such as a stress-physiology primer, a clinician describing their own freeze, or a 30-second reset). The practical backup to each lesson.

Urology’s first scenario and lessons are live now; more lessons and resources are being added across the other rooms.

Three views

  • The ward map — walk around the department and find the rings.
  • An eye-level scene — sit in the moment with the people in it.
  • A focused mini-game — a close-up task at the heart of the scenario.

See it in action

A quick play-through of the Urology scenario, frame by frame — from walking the ward to feeling the moment and recovering.

The ward map: your department with glowing rings and a colleague.
1 · Walk the ward — your department, with glowing rings to explore.
Moving the character around the ward; a side panel decodes the moment.
2 · Move with the mouse or WASD — the side panel decodes what’s happening.
A green SCENARIO ring glowing in the Operating Theatre.
3 · A green SCENARIO ring marks the playable moment.
Heading toward the Operating Theatre on the ward map.
4 · Head for the Operating Theatre.
Eye-level view at the surgical field, mid-procedure.
5 · Step in — you’re the clinician at the surgical field.
The freeze: hands hover over the field while the panel explains the startle reflex.
6 · The startle hits — your hands freeze, and the panel explains why.
The Startle Effect CRASH card.
7 · The Startle Effect — a tray crashes; one stitch pulls.
Reading the decoder panel about what just happened to brain and body.
8 · Read what just happened to your brain and body.
Recovery step one: a hold-to-exhale breathing prompt.
9 · Recovery, step 1: one long exhale.
Continuing the guided breath to recover.
10 · Breathe it back, then re-anchor on what’s real.

Rules & what to expect

FirstPoint is practice, not a test. There is no leaderboard to chase and, deliberately, some scenarios have no perfect score. The hardest moments do not have a winning line — a colleague can still struggle even when you say something kind and true.

That is the point. A good first point of contact does the right things — staying, listening, normalising the moment, separating the event from someone’s worth, and keeping the door open — regardless of whether they appear to “work.” Doing the right things anyway is the skill. Play, reflect, and return to the Shared Office selector when you want another scenario.

A content note before you play

One scenario, “After the Call,” deals with sensitive themes — including patient suicide and the distress a clinician can feel afterwards. It is fictional and made for training, with no real patient or person. It is non-graphic and contains no method detail.

That scenario shows a content warning before it starts, so it is never a surprise, and you can choose “not right now” at the gate. You can step out at any time — leaving never leaves you with nothing.

It also signposts real support, including the Samaritans (free, 24/7) on 116 123. If anything here is heavy for you right now, please reach out.