Chris Kline is an American

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

best known as "Vertexguy" or the "Vertex Guy". His artwork and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

is present in several

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s spanning more than a dozen titles across several

console Console may refer to: Computing and video games * System console, a physical device to operate a computer ** Virtual console, a user interface for multiple computer consoles on one device ** Command-line interface, a method of interacting with ...

and PC platforms. His

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

renditions of classic video game songs have also been performed live at award shows and in

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

with

Video Games Live Video Games Live (VGL) is a concert series created by Tommy Tallarico and originally founded by Tallarico and Jack Wall. The concerts consist of segments of video game music performed by a live orchestra with video footage and synchronized light ...

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 A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

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 Instrument may refer to: Science and technology * Flight instruments, the devices used to measure the speed, altitude, and pertinent flight angles of various kinds of aircraft * Laboratory equipment, the measuring tools used in a scientific lab ...

along the way, such as the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and the guitar. In middle school, Kline joined band and quickly excelled to first chair drummer. He performed in competition

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

band and performed drum solos at band concerts in front of the entire school. Around this time, Kline also became interested in learning the

. He started out on his father's old

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

trying to play songs like "

Enter Sandman "Enter Sandman" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It is the opening track and lead single from their self-titled fifth album, released in 1991. The music was written by Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Vocalist a ...

" and " The Unforgiven" made popular by

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

. Soon after this, he got his first

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

. Kline was largely influenced by heavy metal,

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

bands of the 1980s and had a hard time finding any instructors interested in the same genres. He started by taking a few lessons here and there, but ended up quitting and teaching himself along the way. During this time, he developed his musical ear to a very high level enabling him to pick up new songs very quickly. Around this time, he also was heavily influenced by the video game industry and took a strong liking to the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

. He had a passion for art and music and had been conjuring up his own game designs since the

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

made its first United States debut in 1985. With the help of

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017� ...

, he went online and began searching for other like-minded individuals wanting to try to make their own video game. In the process, he formed the company known as "Nuke Ware". 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 Excalibur BBS was a Windows-based GUI BBS software developed by Excalibur Communications. Released in 1993, it has not been supported since 1999, when Excalibur Communications ceased operations. Client Software Users connected to the BBS by m ...

. Not long after this, Kline graduated from Yankton High School and went off to

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

. He applied and was accepted into the Art Institute of Phoenix. He began pursuing the nation's first

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in Game Art & Design. In college, Kline excelled in all subjects and made the Deans

Honor Roll An honors student or honor student is a student recognized for achieving high grades or high marks in their coursework at school. United States In the US, honors students may refer to: # Students recognized for their academic achievement on list ...

. 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 Contra GDC07a

Towards the final year of college, Kline realized he would need to create a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

for his online

portfolio Portfolio may refer to: Objects * Portfolio (briefcase), a type of briefcase Collections * Portfolio (finance), a collection of assets held by an institution or a private individual * Artist's portfolio, a sample of an artist's work or a ...

. 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

in 2002, Kline moved to

Prescott, Arizona Prescott ( ) is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the city's population was 45,827. The city is the county seat of Yavapai County. In 1864, Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona T ...

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 FarSight Studios (formerly Farsight Technologies) is an American video game developer established in 1988 by Jay Obernolte. They are an official licensed developer for all current home and handheld consoles including the Sony PlayStation 4, PlayS ...

. During his time at

, Kline quickly adapted and assumed a natural leadership role, taking on a great deal of responsibility. In addition to creating artwork for all the games the studio worked on, he also became the studio's

Audio Audio most commonly refers to sound, as it is transmitted in signal form. It may also refer to: Sound *Audio signal, an electrical representation of sound *Audio frequency, a frequency in the audio spectrum *Digital audio, representation of sound ...

Director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

. He created all the sound effects for the studio's game line up and also wrote a few music scores. In 2005, Kline joine
www.MusicianWar.com
and began posting original compositions in friendly music competition. This site features categories to compete in and the one that caught Kline’s attention the most was "Video Game Themes". Though this did not seem to be a very popular category, Kline began posting guitar renditions of various classic video game themes. Shortly after, he decided to take one of the game themes he covered (

John Petrucci John Peter Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He produced or co-produced (often with former member Mike Portnoy before he departed the band in 2010 ...

’s Necronomicon: Epiloque) and post it o
YouTube
Not long after, he followed it up with his remake of the original level 1 music from the

title, ''

Contra Contra may refer to: Places * Contra, Virginia * Contra Costa Canal, an aqueduct in the U.S. state of California * Contra Costa County, California * Tenero-Contra, a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland ...

''. This release proved to be a huge hit and spawned much media attention from various gaming sites. Since then, he has been interviewed and discussed on several major gaming sites, including

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

and

Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ' ...

. On June 28, 2006, Kline's rendition of the

Duke Nukem ''Duke Nukem'' is a video game series named for its main character, Duke Nukem. Created by the company Apogee Software Ltd. (now 3D Realms) as a series of video games for personal computers, the series expanded to games released for various co ...

theme, titled "Duke Nukem Jam", was presented on

3D Realms 3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller (entrepreneur), Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game ' ...

' 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. VGL2

After ''

'' made its popular debut across the web, a fellow MySpace user named "Stretch" contacted Kline and suggested that he contact

Tommy Tallarico Tommy Tallarico (born Thomas Andrew Tallarico; February 18, 1968) is an American video game music composer, musician, sound designer, television personality, live show creative director and producer. He and his company, Tommy Tallarico Studios ...

and Jack Wall from

to see if they might be interested in doing something together. Kline took him up on this advice and soon after was invited to perform with

at the

Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutori ...

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

at the E4All Expo in 2007, and in Loveland, CO in 2009.

Games contributed to

PAIN Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, ...

(

PS3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...

, PSN) Published *

Madagascar 2 ''Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa'' (also known as ''Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa'') is a 2008 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Madaga ...

– Escape 2 Africa: (

PS2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia o ...

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

) Published *

Bionic Commando ''Bionic Commando'' is a video game franchise consisting of an original arcade game released in 1987 and several later versions and sequels. Background The original Japanese arcade game and its Famicom counterpart (''Hitler's Resurrection'' ...

: (

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

) Published *

Backyard Baseball ''Backyard Baseball'' is a series of baseball video games for children which was developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Atari. It was first released in October 1997 for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows. Later games were featured on ...

2009: (

) Published *

Game Party ''Game Party'' is a video game developed by FarSight Studios and published by Midway Games. ''Game Party'' was retailed as a budget title for the Wii. It is the first game in the ''Game Party'' series. It was released on November 27, 2007, in ...

: (

) Published *

Backyard Football :''This article describes the video game. For the underlying sport, see Street football (American)''. ''Backyard Football'' is a series of video games for various systems. The series was developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by In ...

2008: (

) Published * Pinball Hall of Fame – The Williams Collection: (

, PSP,

) Published * Scarface: Money, Power, Respect: ( PSP) Published * Hard Rock Casino: (

, PSP) Published * Charlie Brown's All Stars: (

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

) Canceled * Skateboarder: (stand alone game console unit) Published * Gottlieb's Pinball Classics: ( PSP) Published * Golden Tee Home Edition: (stand alone game console unit) Published * Real Swing Golf: (stand alone game console unit) Published * Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection: (

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

) Published * Slugger: (

) Canceled * Black College Football: (

) Canceled * Mini-Golf Mayhem: (

) Canceled * Empires: Quest for Power (

) Published

Music Discography

* Video Games Live – Level 3 * Video Games Live – Level 2 (received IGN's Editors Choice Honor for 2010 and made the top 10 billboard charts) * Video Games Live – Volume 1 (received IGN's Best Videogame Soundtrack Award for 2008 and made the top 10 billboard charts) * Pinball Hall of Fame - The Gottlieb Collection * Pinball Hall of Fame - The Williams Collection * Bionic Commando (2008)

Other productions

Kline has been involved in the creation of several big productions with

over the years. Here are some of his contributions: * Guitar Hero: Foo Fighters – The Pretender May 23, 2011 Created the Rhythm Guitar parts. *

Portal Portal often refers to: * Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel Portal may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...

Still Alive "Still Alive" is a song featured in the closing credits of the 2007 video game ''Portal''. It was composed and arranged by Jonathan Coulton and was performed by Ellen McLain, who voiced the ''Portal'' antagonist and subject of the song, GLaDOS. ...

September 28, 2010 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. *

Street Fighter II is a fighting game developed by Capcom and originally released for arcades in 1991. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter''. It is Capcom's fourteenth game to use the CP Syst ...

Medley September 24, 2010 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Drum Kit parts. * Guitar Hero: Aerosmith –

Sweet Emotion "Sweet Emotion" is a song by the American rock band Aerosmith from the band's third album '' Toys in the Attic''. It was released as a single on May 19, 1975. The song began a string of pop hits and large-scale mainstream success for the band t ...

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 is a 2001 survival horror game developed by Team Silent, a group in Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, and published by Konami. The game was released from September to November, originally for the PlayStation 2. The second installment in ...

: Theme of Laura September 10, 2009 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Drum Kit parts. *

Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

Suite January 16, 2008 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. *

Sonic The Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...

–

Green Hill Zone (or simply Green Hill) is the first level of the platform game ''Sonic the Hedgehog'', which released for the Sega Genesis in 1991. The level is grassy and lush, with environmental features such as palm trees, vertical loops and cliffs, and is t ...

Zone December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. *

Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer a ...

December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. *

Outrun (also stylized as ''OutRun'') is an arcade driving video game released by Sega in September 1986. It is known for its pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, a selectable soundtrack with music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi, and ...

December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. *

Super Mario Bros. is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game ''Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for th ...

December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. *

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

Theme December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. *

Halo 3 ''Halo 3'' is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The third installment in the ''Halo'' franchise, the game concludes the story arc begun in 2001's '' Halo: Combat Evolved'' and continued in 2 ...

– Finish the Fight December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. * Classic

Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

Medley December 3, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar parts. *

Final Fantasy VII is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the seventh main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Published in Japan by Square, it was released in other regions by Sony Computer Entertai ...

– One Winged Angel February 23, 2007 Created the Rhythm / Lead Guitar, Bass Guitar, and Drum Kit parts.

References

External links

* {{Authority control American artists American male composers 21st-century American composers Internet memes Living people Video game artists Video game composers 21st-century American male musicians Year of birth missing (living people)