Nils Iver Holtar

About

I am a software developer who also does freelance music and sound for games and other media.

This site contains a small sample of things I have been working on - feel free to check it out!

Audioverdrive

In April 2013, I completed my masters degree in Game Design at the IT University of Copenhagen. My thesis, titled "Audioverdrive: Exploring bidirectional relationships between music and game", is a study in ways to couple music and game, the primary focus being on elevating the music into more than an aesthetic component of the combined experience.

I created a mapping software that allowed me to use Ableton Live as a game-scripting tool, dictating the behaviour of a simple space-shooter game I made for the iPad.

Live demonstration video

Ableton also did a short interview with me, where I elaborate a bit.

The thesis

The written part of the thesis offers an analysis of various music implementation strategies in existing games, and places my own work in context with them. It also offers more details on the technical setup. You are welcome to check it out here.

Paper

Prior to finishing the thesis, I also co-wrote a paper with my supervisors Mark Nelson and Julian Togelius. It was later part of the proceedings at ICMC 2013 in Perth.

Tokt

Tokt is an animated short film that was part of an educational exhibit at Bergen Sjøfartsmuseum (the seafarers museum in Bergen, Norway).

The film shows and explains various scenarios from the viking era in a classy and artful tone. It was concieved, directed and animated by Raindog Studios, while I composed and produced the soundtrack. The guitars are played and recorded by Edvard Førre Erfjord.

Trailer

Full track

Stills from the film, design by Ole Herigstad

Ultra Sheriff

Torjus Førre Erfjord, Edvard Førre Erjord and me have been making music and playing concerts together since 2008 in the sci-fi synth rock band Ultra Sheriff.

We have made two official releases: Galactic Fame and Deception, Oil and Laser Beams.

Photos by Morten Markussen Espeland Original artwork by Torjus Førre Erfjord

Fractured Skyline

One of my ongoing projects is the soundtrack for Fractured Skyline, a smartphone game in development for iOS. It is a cyberpunk empire building strategy card game that uses geolocation to generate a procedural environment around the player.

The game is developed by the London-based independent game studio Preliminal Games.

Cinematic trailer