As I’m sure a small section of the already comparatively small Psychonauts fandom knows, way back when Psychonauts was still a little baby game, brooding in the womb of Double Fine, that our Beloved Razputin was not always the hero!

No… Before Razputin came around, there was another. Still kinda short, still had a big head, and was still psychic. With skin of a blue green hue and a stocking cap twice as long as he was tall. I’m speaking of none other that D’ARTAGAN. Or Dart, as his pals from his cabin call him.

Here’s some concept art of our Dart.

This poor guy. He’s had it rough. In the beginning, he was going to be a great hero. He was going to save the world and look awesome while doing so. But then, they tossed him away like a used napkin simply because of his hat.

HIS AWESOME, AWESOME HAT.

They could’ve just asked him to take it off, because it was too hard to animate. But a Dart without a gooey stocking hat is hardly a Dart at all. Also, between you and me, they said he looked like a girl. Don’t let him find out, though. He’ll get real mad.

Now don’t think I’m doing this for no reason. The fact of the matter is… Me, Tikara, and several others think D’Artagan was really friggin’ cool looking. Tikara and I have even made him a sort of Fan Character, giving him a full name and a background story, a history. Gave him a personality and stuff. Made him his own person. Because we have no life. (But as I’ve said: Who needs a life when you have PSYCHONAUTS?)

I’ll send some more concept art with him in it at you guys, and you can go one to discuss this cool little guy. (courtesy of Tikara, who snagged the art and hosted it on her Photobucket. Fellow D’Artagan fangirl. *respek knuckles*)

Here he is, in Gloria’s theater. Proof that he was in the game, and that the Theater was concived early on.

He even got so far as to being rendered! But his hat brought up animation problems. The game’s engine couldn’t handle it’s awesomenicity.

Look out it’s Dartzilla! or Hatmaru. Giant psychic ten year old.

Blam blam blam! He can shoot a hellhound through the forehead at 40 paces! (no clue what that means)

You can see him in the background, there. He’s a shortypants. Short. Very short. He makes Oleander feel tall. (jk jk)

And Tikara found him in the final cutscene. Trying to hide in the latreen. Sneaky little bastard.

And that is all I’ve got so far. Besides all the sketches and drawings we have of him. Go ahead and discuss him, guys.

*dies at the Oleander comment* Oh geez, you have made this introduction awesome. I swear I couldn’t have said it better myself~

NOW WE SHALL SHOW THE WORLD OF DART"S AWESOMISITY or whatever it’s called.

... but yeah, go ahead and give opinions on this forgotten little character :3 he needs more love anyways~ X3

... Yeah I can’t think of anything else o.o Other than you did an awesome job at coming up with this thing~ X3

((… also, note to people, it’s my Photobucket. I can name the files whatever I want X3))

Cool. Dart always made me wonder what Psychonauts would have been like if they included him along with Raz and had two-player co-op available, each character having their own unique story intertwined with one another.

Cool! Double Fine could make a game add-on for Psychonauts, telling the history of this D’artagan!
Omg. That would be great!

You know, I don’t think the hat would be too hard to animate. Look at Wind Waker. Best ingame hat physics ever. Even reacted to wind.

Also, Dart is very cool, and needs to appear at some point.

Edit: Also, I could see him being a member of Aquato’s Circus. Maybe he ends up having to help Raz break his watery curse or something. I’ve always thought the idea of an inter-circus war complete with gypsy curses is one that needs further investigation.

I think that it would be cool if his PSI Blast came from the tip of his hat in a whiplash style manner also. Just putting that out there since Hermit talked about hat animation.

Well, his hat is supposed to be extremely flowy. Think of it like the scarf from the PS2 game “Shinobi”. hat’s what his hat would be like when he moves around. And when you count the wind resistance, and the extra little “poofball” on the tip of his hat, it’s be tricky to try and get it to flow properly. I know this from Trial/error on trying to make flexible stocking hats on Second Life. NOT EASY xDD
((NYAHAHAH I am a speedy little Mew >:3))

Also, Cee and I had a little plot idea where Dart’s last name was “Galochio"… but then we scrapped it due to not wanting to mess up the plot line a bunch xDD

.. and Headroom, that is actually a cool idea o.o it’s be like a whip with a thunderbolt shooting out of it wtf xDDD *LAME*

Man, I’d kill for a co-op or multiplayer mode in Psychonauts. To put D’Artagan in there would be the icing on the cake. X3

I dunno. They wanted to make his hat a really fluid object. Like the scarf in that Shinobi game. I saw some gameplay vids, and it looks pretty difficult to code. And given that they would also have to keep the hat shape (the scarf’s just this red strip hanging off the guys back), I can imagine why they’d run into problems. But that is a really neat idea for his psy blast! I can also see him using a bit of TK on it to keep it off the ground and stuff. Using his powers on his hat seems like a neat idea.

(d’oh, Tik beat me to the hat thing.) (oh well.)

Nyahah, yeah, probably for a basic attack, he does a little spin thing, sorta like Tails in Sonic Adventure 1, and whacks the foe with a giant psychic whip that comes from his hat X3 ... ehehe, whip~ *shuts up, as she needs to save that injoke for AIM*

.. and ya know.. I never thought about his hat floating off the ground o.o I’ve just drawn it hanging limp no matter what. ((*snerk*)) But he probably would want to keep the hat his mom gave him all nice and clean and not dirty and such~ X3 *pats Darty* ((for those reading the mom thing is part of the little history Cee and I came uop with for him. YES we are that lame xD))

Gaawww, too many inside jokes. XDD
But yes, I’d think he’d want to keep it up as well. In the render pics, it always seems to be floating, even though Dart doesn’t look like he was moving much. Same goes for the concept art. It was always drifting around and such, even when he’s just standing there.

Yeah, we did create a history for Dart. Mainly out of boredom, and to make his character more interesting to us. If anyone’s interested, I’d gladly explain what we came up with to them. It’s a pretty entertaining tale.

If they makes an exclusive expansion-pack with Dart, having his own story in the game and then maybe adds some multiplayer modes..!

I think that’ll sell great to fans! They could make the expansion available over steam, and in the Double Fine Store :D

There is only one thing I have to say about Dart.

SHOULDA HAPPENED D:.

I mean, C’mon! Push Bobby’s creative taunting. “Get outta my way...uhh....Hatmandu!”

P.S. I wanna hear the cool D’artagan background! C’MON SHARE PLZ.

His render looks like the results of a Keebler Elf that got busy with a Smurf. I still like him, but I’m just sayin’..  uh, nevermind.

Raz is a better design, but I’d still like to play as Dart. I am sure anyone who even knows about Dart (the non-hardcore psychonauts crowd) would have liked to played as him too. Maybe.. we will see a D’artagan Double Fine Site MINIGAME?! (How awesome would that be?)

Ohh goodness. Bobby’s taunts for Dart would’ve been hilarious! But then we wouldn’t have had the “Gogglelicious” quote. D:

Okay, lemme see if I can find the file. I’ll copy paste.

Here’s a summary of what me and Tikara came up with:

Name: D’Artagan Dramier. (pronounced: Drah-meer) Birthday: November 13th, 1994

Background info: Born as an only child to a Psychic father and non psychic mother. His mother made him that hat and gave it to him before she died of cancer when he was two. His father was mentally unstable and thus was unable to care for little Dart on his own.

Dart’s grandparents (father’s side, both psychic) took him and his father under their care. Dart’s father left and never returned when Dart was three. He’s presumed dead, probably from suicide. Leaving D’Artagan in the care of his grandparents.

His grandparents owned a small bookstore, and were very kind. Dart was naturally a shy kid, and mostly a loner. Raised by psychics, he wasn’t aware that having powers was abnormal until he was yelled at during school by a teacher for using them in public.

He was the only psychic child in the town and didn’t have many friends. He preferred being on his own or with his grandparents. He was also a bookworm. He learned to read at an early age, and he would often wander into the nearby forest to sit and read and be with his own thoughts rather than the thoughts of those around him.

At age eleven, he was sent to Whispering Rock so he could gain better control of his powers and to meet other psychic kids. Even among other psychics, D’Artagan would usually go out of his way to avoid others and be on his own. He went to camp again at age twelve, which is when the events of the game, Psychonauts, occurred. Lucky for Dart, he had been scared away from camp by Bobby Zilch, who had threatened him and told him to leave. He returned after the fiasco was over, which is why he was seen in the end cut scene.

At the present time he’s twelve (will be thirteen after November) and has returned to WR, along with my own Psychonauts fan character: Cee, and her “pet psychic freak cat“ Tikara. He’s also befriended Razputin, who had returned to camp to try and conquer his fear/curse of water. (and show off his status as Psychonaut to all the new and old cadets.)

His last name: Tikara suggested “Drameir” after a long and arduous process of trying to think of a good name for him. It’s a twist on the word “Dreamer”, which is basically what Dart is. He’d often spend hours staring into space, getting lost in his day dreams. The name stuck, and Dart finally had a last name.

Also, you “gotta r-r-roll the R”. Dr-r-r-ramier.

Sorry it’s so ridiculously long. We had WAY WAY WAY too much spare time on our hands.

Wait, did Dart also have a lightning bolt scar on his forehead? Lol @ “Born as an only child to a Psychic father and non psychic mother.” bit.. 

Edit: That came out as a bit crass, sorry. I liked your fanfiction, seriously. Rather than doing Psychonauts II where Raz and everyone leaves off to rescue Lili’s father, they could start anew with Dart and his story about becoming (or already being) a Psychonaut?

That’s really interesting. Tim will probably be pleased, or scared.

Also, I’ve read a lot of Psychonauts fanfiction. and I gotta say, needs more Dart. Maybe he can find love, in Phoebe or somthing. PhoebexDart sounds sweet.