Biography

David Alexander Johnston MEng (January 6, 1983) is most renowned for his contributions to 'Counter-Strike', a first-person online video game developed by Valve Software. In particular, he created the maps known as 'Dust', 'Dust 2' and 'Cobble' which have remained amongst the most popular Counter-Strike maps for a number of years. 'Dust 2' is understood to be the most-played map of any online first-person-shooter ever made.

David has design experience with a plethora of video games, from the original 'Wolfenstein 3D', through 'Doom', 'Quake', 'Half-Life', and 'Counter-Strike: Source'. His first amateur work - a single-player mission called 'ETC' for the game Half-Life - was released in 1998 (when he was 16), bringing him directly into the limelight. He has since been involved in contractual level design work for a number of developers, including the creators of Half-Life, Valve Software, as well as Gearbox Software (Counter-Strike: Condition Zero), Electronic Arts (James Bond 007: Nightfire) and Rebellion (formerly Core Design.)

In 2005, David graduated from The University of Southampton with a first class honours MEng degree in the field of Software Engineering. He currently works as a level designer for Splash Damage.