Top all-time · #4349
Dave Johnston
Personal blog · johnsto.co.uk/bloggamesprogramming
Dave Johnston's personal blog at johnsto.co.uk covers games and programming. Since 2011, 17 different Hacker News readers have linked it 23 times, most often “The Making Of: de_dust2”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-05-10, and you can follow it by feed.
Personal website of Dave Johnston, software engineer and creator of de_dust and de_dust2 for Counter-Strike.
Most-linked posts?
- The Making Of: de_dust27 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2016-12-30
- The Making Of Dust (2003)5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2016-12-30
- The Making Of: Dust 22 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-06-25
- The Making Of: Dust2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-06-24
What Hacker News says?
Dave Johnston also has a write up on his blog, for those interested: https://www.johnsto.co.uk/design/making-dust2/
Comment linking /design/making-dust2/
on “Counter-Strike: A billion-dollar game built in a dorm room”Submitted The Making Of Dust (2003) as a story · 186 points
HN discussionAlso interesting, the same about de_dust2 - which is still my favorite map. Followed by Aztec. https://www.johnsto.co.uk/design/making-dust2/
Comment linking /design/making-dust2/
on “The Making Of Dust (2003)”Submitted The Making Of: Dust as a story · 134 points
HN discussionIf any of you played Firearms (one of the other popular HL mods at the time), this screenshot (apparently of an unreleased TF2) just has to remind you of Durandal: https://www.johnsto.co.uk/i/design/making-dust/tf2_01.jpg
Comment linking /i/design/making-dust/tf2_01.jpg
on “The Making Of Dust (2003)”Submitted 25 Years of Counter-Strike as a story · 22 points
HN discussionThis made me think of "The Making of: Dust", which describes the iterative (and serendipitous) process of creating [two of] the most well-known Counter Strike maps. I think it's a brilliant how a design that feels obvious involves a lot of work and uncertainty. http://johnsto.co.uk/design/making-dust HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9772521
Comment linking /design/making-dust
on “Good Design”Submitted The Making Of: de_dust2 as a story · 16 points
HN discussionYou're in luck. There is a similar post about Dust2 : http://johnsto.co.uk/design/making-dust2
Comment linking /design/making-dust2
on “The Making Of: Dust”Submitted The Making of Counterstrike's Dust as a story · 14 points
HN discussionOriginal de_dust here: https://www.johnsto.co.uk/design/making-dust/
Comment linking /design/making-dust/
on “The Making Of: de_dust2”Submitted The Making of Dust 2 as a story · 3 points
HN discussionHelpful link :) https://www.johnsto.co.uk/design/making-dust2/
Comment linking /design/making-dust2/
on “Cobble_stone (The Texture of Your Childhood)”Submitted The Making Of: Dust 2 as a story · 3 points
HN discussionHere is a link where he talks about de_cbble aka. Cobblestone map. https://www.johnsto.co.uk/blog/cobbles-and-castles/
Comment linking /blog/cobbles-and-castles/
on “Cobble_stone (The Texture of Your Childhood)”Submitted The Making Of: Dust as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThe creator of de_dust (amongst others), did some great write ups[0] on how and why he made maps like he did. It’s a lost art now everything is squeezed through playtesting and data analysis. https://www.johnsto.co.uk/design/making-dust2/
Comment linking /design/making-dust2/
on “The legacy of fy_iceworld, Counter-Strike's divisive and popular custom map”Submitted The Making Of: Dust as a story · 2 points
HN discussionHe also had blogs about those maps: https://www.johnsto.co.uk/design/
Comment linking /design/
on “Blackholing My Email”Submitted The Making Of: Dust (2003) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Blackholing My Email as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Making Of: Dust 2 as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Making Of: Dust 2 as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
