Northstar runs the lights, audio, video, pneumatics, and motion in haunted attractions, escape rooms, museums, and dark rides. One show file. One operator button. Sub-2-second trigger latency. Fully offline.
Every Northstar venue is built from the same building blocks. Hardware that talks to software that talks to hardware — all coordinated through a single nodes.json file authored once and run forever.
The show-control PC. Static IP 10.0.0.1, NSSM-managed service, UPS-backed. The brain that drives every show.
Wi-Fi effect nodes that fire audio, video, GPIO, or mixed channels. Frozen API on port 80. Field-replaceable in minutes.
The physical operator panel. Five buttons, six LEDs, USB to Helm. The only piece staff interact with during a show.
The air-gapped show network. Same SSID, same subnet, same channel plan at every venue. No Internet at runtime.
The runtime. State machine, scheduler, node driver, dashboard host. Runs as a Windows service. Hot reloads nodes.json.
The authoring desktop app. Visually build buildings, nodes, channels, groups, sequences, and schedules. Mock-mode simulator built in.
The live dashboard. Served by HelmOS, accessed from any browser on the show network. Override, inspect, fire — all in real time.
The firmware on every Polaris. Frozen HTTP API: GET /trigger?ch=N. Updates never break compatibility with older shows.
A Northstar deployment is the same shape at every venue. The same SSID, the same IP plan, the same file format. That sameness is what makes the system reliable.
A show designer opens Compose on a laptop and builds the show — every node, channel, group, sequence, schedule. Mock-mode simulates the timeline offline.
Field techs commission the venue: TrueNorth router, Helm PC, Bridge panel, Polaris nodes. Every install follows the same checklist.
The authored nodes.json uploads to HelmOS via Cuemaster. Schema validates. Hot reload — no service restart needed.
Day-of operators press START on the Bridge. HelmOS executes the boot sequence, schedules fire on time, Cuemaster shows live telemetry.
Venues are messy. Wi-Fi neighbors interfere. Drywall buries effects. Operators get hired Friday and run the show Saturday. The Internet drops at the worst moment.
Northstar is designed for all of that. The show network is air-gapped — no Internet means no Internet to fail. The frozen API means a show authored today still runs in five years. Every Bridge has a Server Reset button because shows must recover in seconds, not call-outs.
Coordinate scares across rooms with frame-accurate timing. Schedule scare cycles. Bridge button on every shift.
Drive puzzle reveals, lighting cues, and audio stings from a single timeline. Reset with one button between groups.
Exhibit shows run on a schedule, every day, every hour. HelmOS schedules cron-fire automatically — no daily babysitting.
Per-vehicle timing windows, scene-by-scene effect sequences, and integration with motion control via the documented REST API.
Audio bed, video plates, and lighting cues synchronized to the second. Loop-mode sequences for ambient pre-show timing.
Pre-imaged kits ship from Orlando, deploy in a day. Air-gapped TrueNorth means venue Wi-Fi politics don't apply.
Talk to us about a venue. We'll scope the kit, ship pre-imaged hardware, and have you running on opening night.