King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow - Speedrun World Record
King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow is a game that held a special place in my childhood. So many people loved this game as kids, so many, like me, played it along with their siblings and felt the joy of solving these puzzles bit by bit.
Thank you to:
topkekshrek, the previous world record holder
jakijo, one of the first people to start posting runs of the game
oneshorteye, who documented the journey taken by those before me to reach world record in this run, the speedrun history video is a MUST WATCH! **CLICK HERE** • King's Quest VI Speedrun History
Now, I've brought the game back into my life and those feelings are coming back as well, but instead of solving the puzzles, I'm making extremely precise mouse movements and timings with mouse and keyboard clicks in order to beat the game as fast as possible. Each second I took off this time was a struggle and a true feat whenever I could get a new PB. Catching topkekshrek's world record time of 13:39 was no easy task, but I knew I could do it. It sill surpassed my expectations in terms of difficulty.
In this run a glitch is used that allows Alexander to bypass some of the game's screen transition triggers including the gnome guards in the Isle of Wonder, which are skipped by using the map on one specific turning animation frame, and again three times in the catacombs using the boring book on a more lenient frame window of turning animation. These skips eliminate the need for several items and portions of the game.
I am going to play 100% so that I can see those items and game sections next time. There is also a glitch where if you hold alt during the floor tile trap in the catacombs, you can skip it. I WILL be using glitches in the 100% run but I won't stop there, and I'll consider other categories that show off more of the game, and show it off in ways similar to how it was played by first time users in the 1990s.
I'm SO happy to hold this record, even if someone beats it. There is quite a bit of time to save, but some of it just seems so luck based. Many NPCs will randomly wait up to 1 second before beginning their dialogue throughout the game. Likewise, Alexander will wait while looking at the map sometimes. Bad luck plagues many parts of the run.
My mistakes mainly fell in the final section of the game, including some slight movement errors. I'm sure someone could come and beat this in a shorter time than it took me to get it. I really did underestimate how hard this would be for me. -- Watch live at / danzel_glovington