VAMP

Can we revive it?

The project began with a question — can we revive a forty-year-old arcade motorcycle without gutting its soul?

We pitched the concept to Sony and USC through sketches and mood boards. The answer was 80s and 90s neon retro — vibrant, immersive, warmly overdriven. I designed the visual language end-to-end: environments, UI, and overall look.

OutRun lineage

Warm magentas, electric blues, sodium orange — the palette comes straight from the era the cabinet was built in. The goal wasn't nostalgia; it was to honor a machine that was designed to feel fast in 1987 and still does in VR.

Four decades, one serial line

The pipeline runs from arcade controller to computer interface to VR headset — four decades of hardware speaking through a single serial line.

01 · Multimeter Testing

Verified voltage outputs from the motorcycle controller wires using a multimeter, then established jump-wire connections to route signal into the breadboard.

02 · Wire Identification

Identified which wires correspond to throttle, brake, and steering — ensuring accurate signal mapping before writing a line of code.

03 · Arduino Parsing

The Arduino reads and interprets controller voltage changes into processable data, transmitting over serial to bridge hardware and Unreal in real time.

End-to-end demo

The full loop — physical handlebar to serial to Unreal to VR headset — latency low enough that the cabinet feels like a native input device. The forty-year-old iron stays alive.

Two feels, one cabinet

Combined city and highway sections providing balance between urban density and open-road freedom — two feels, one cabinet.

01 · City

Players navigate a neon-lit metropolis — tight turns, glowing signage, bustling street ambiance. The city demands precision and control at moderate speeds.

02 · Highway

The highway features broad lanes and high-speed stretches — invite the throttle, test maneuverability in the open.

01 · Serial Data

Raw input from the Arduino is captured via serial communication and stored inside Unreal Engine. Reading voltage data sent over the wire translates physical controller actions into in-game events.

Input processing

Raw serial values pass through smoothing and dead-zone stages before being consumed — raw voltage from a 1987 cabinet is noisy, and the blueprints scrub it into something Unreal can trust.

02 · Chaos Vehicle

Processed controller inputs feed into Unreal's Chaos Vehicle system — governing throttle, steering, and braking in real time. The cabinet speaks Unreal.

Debug & calibration

Overlays and snippets illustrate how we compensate for controller dead zones and unstable voltage readings — ensuring smooth, reliable gameplay across a forty-year-old cabinet.