The Retro Hour (Retro Gaming Podcast) 509: “This Shouldn’t Be Possible on an Amiga 500!” – H0ffman - Demoscene and Game Ports – The Retro Hour Podcast EP509
Dec 5, 2025
This week features H0ffman (Ian Ford), a renowned demo-scene musician and coder known for his impressive Amiga ports and DJ tools. He shares fascinating tales from the demo scene and his porting adventures, like adapting Metal Gear and Knightmare to the Amiga. H0ffman discusses the intricate balance between enhancing audio and maintaining gameplay fidelity, as well as the nostalgia tied to MSX ports. He also reveals how his Amiga DJ software helped foster a global community and reflects on the resurgence of Amiga hardware and software.
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From Teen Demos To Event Organizer
- Ian "H0ffman" Ford joined the demo scene in the late 80s and built a career around trackers, demos, DJing and ports.
- He organizes NOVA demo party work so the one social day becomes a 12-hour production shift for him.
Demos Push Game Tech Forward
- Demo-scene techniques drive technical excellence in ports and games by pushing hardware limits.
- H0ffman uses those tricks (e.g., blitter particles) to deliver effects like thousands of dots at playable speed on the Amiga.
Metal Gear Port Began As Curiosity
- H0ffman started porting Metal Gear after finding a fully commented MSX disassembly on GitHub.
- Curiosity about how MSX graphics and data worked snowballed into a full Amiga port project.
