Vertexguy

Chris Kline is an American artist/musician best known as "Vertexguy" or the "Vertex Guy". His artwork and music is present in several video games spanning more than a dozen titles across several console and PC platforms. His guitar renditions of classic video game songs have also been performed live at award shows and in concert with Video Games Live.

Biography Chris Kline's musical influences started from his parents, David and Mary Ellen Kline, who first met in a rock and roll band. David Kline was a drummer and encouraged his son to pick up the drums around the age of 5. Kline stuck with the drums through high school, but also tried out a few other instruments along the way, such as the violin and the guitar. In middle school, Kline joined band and quickly excelled to first chair drummer. He performed in competition Jazz band and performed drum solos at band concerts in front of the entire school. He pursued a few different game designs under this company, and with the help of DarkSoft Entertainment, successfully co-published his first title, Empires: Quest for Power on the Excalibur BBS.

During his early college years, Kline joined his first official band, "Universal Tongue". Kline toured the local bar scenes with them performing lead / rhythm guitar on original and popular cover songs. Kline's involvement with the band lasted about a year. Shortly after Kline left, the band began falling apart and is now non existent.

Chris Kline performing Contra: Jungle Jam at Video Games Live, Game Developers Conference 2007. Towards the final year of college, Kline realized he would need to create a website for his online portfolio. He wanted the address to be memorable and make sense with the type of work he did. Since 3D art is made up of vertices at its core level, and this is what he spends his time manipulating every day, Kline thought it would be catchy to call himself "VertexGuy". Kline usually lumps the two words together to match his website address (www.vertexguy.com), but can often be found referenced as "the vertex guy", "vertex guy", "vertex" or "vert". He prefers treating the title as one word because it is unique enough to make him instantly easy to find in any search engine.

After graduating from college in 2002, Kline moved to Prescott, Arizona to be with his girlfriend, Trina Noelle Cowin, who would soon become his wife. During this time, Kline worked on his art portfolio and began applying to game studios across the United States. Knowing he needed a job to get married, Kline jumped on the first major opportunity that came his way. This came in the form of a job offer from FarSight Studios.

On June 28, 2006, Kline's rendition of the Duke Nukem theme, titled "Duke Nukem Jam", was presented on 3D Realms' front page (www.3dRealms.com). This helped expose Kline to new listeners, who immediately became die hard fans of his work. Since then, his video on YouTube has had more than a million views, in addition to millions of total views spanning across all his videos. Chris was later contracted by 3D Realms and Apogee for use of his Duke Nukem Jam in their promotional trailer videos created for Duke Nukem 3d on Xbox Live and the Duke Nukem Trilogy trailer for PSP. Kline took him up on this advice and soon after was invited to perform with Video Games Live at the Game Developers Conference in 2007. He also performed at the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) Awards show during the conference. Since then, Kline has performed with Video Games Live at the E4All Expo in 2007, and in Loveland, CO in 2009. Video Games Live – Volume 1 Pinball Hall of Fame - The Gottlieb Collection Pinball Hall of Fame - The Williams Collection Bionic Jam (2008)

Video Games Live Kline has been involved in the creation of several productions with Video Games Live.

Guitar Hero: Foo Fighters – The Pretender May 23, 2011 Created the Rhythm Guitar parts. Street Fighter II Medley September 24, 2010 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Drum Kit parts. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith – Sweet Emotion March 25, 2010 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. Guitar Hero: Van Halen – Jump March 6, 2010 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. Silent Hill 2: Theme of Laura September 10, 2009 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Drum Kit parts. Halo Suite January 16, 2008 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. Sonic The Hedgehog – Green Hill Zone Zone December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. Tron December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. Outrun December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. Super Mario Bros. December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. Valve Theme December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. Halo 3 – Finish the Fight December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. Classic Arcade Medley December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. Final Fantasy VII – One Winged Angel February 23, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Drum Kit parts.