- Version 0.76.28 notes for 2nd of April update (1 year Steam anniversary) - 2 April 2026
1 year on Steam Early Access cheapskate first went on Steam Early Access one year ago yesterday on April 1st. cheapskate has been in live development since day 1 sharing on my blog and later YouTube then later Instagram and TikTok. I decided to put it on Steam Early Access as soon as there was a base playable walking and skateboarding controller and the grind system and balance system, and then combo, and scoring systems (also very experimental peer-to-peer multiplayer). Though most games use Early Access to preview finished games nowadays, the Early Access program was historically about sharing early development. cheapskate is on Early Access as an early development / in progress game. Big thanks to everyone who has checked out cheapskate and has had the patience to stick around and see things progress. I started this as a learning project since I was unemployed and wanted to try a new…
- Version 0.76.27 notes for 27th of March update - 28 March 2026
Story Mode Systems & Community ContentAdding Story Mode "under the hood" systems to support progression, story missions, cutscene only missions, and level state changes based on story progressionThere will be multiple story missions in every level that revolve around unlocking more areas in the levelThere is the first test intro cutscene mission in the skateshop if you activate story mode to test (nothing much, just a functional test of a cutscene only mission)All of story mode will be based on these systems that are going in now (not much new gameplay to see because the underlying systems are being created first)Also adding some new community decalsAlso updating some community levels and adding a new oneAlso added some joke video game publisher parody logosPreview video of testing out story mode cutscene:Preview video of adding TunnelVision and Electronic Charts to the game + preview o…
- Version 0.76.26 notes for 24th of March update - 24 March 2026
some minor content update got a chance to review recent community decal submissions packaged up everything for game format (remember 512x512 .png for all decal submissions, thanks!) added them all to the base project assets in the modding project so anyone can use them added a bunch to level 1 Thanks for playing, drop by our Discord to hang out and submit some fun content for the game if you'd like.
- Version 0.76.25 notes for 23rd of March update - 24 March 2026
New Skateboard Deck Graphic Modding support refactored the skateboard deck graphic customization pipeline created a modding pipeline for deck graphics made a youtube tutorial for how to mod deck graphics Thanks for playing. Come drop by our Discord to hang out and share any deck graphics you create, I add a lot of community mods to the game.
- Version 0.76.24 notes for 13th of March (2nd) update - 14 March 2026
More vert tweaking and level updates adding some speed adjustments to the acceleration on vert transition downhill updating the transition geometry in level 2 (rooftop skateparks) also tweaking the shipwreck in level 1 (beach skatepark) Thanks for playing. Check out this cool line I found: YouTube Short of cool line
- Version 0.76.23 notes for 13th of March update - 13 March 2026
More vert smoothing and more vert to skate: fixing some issues with grinding after vert air adding more vert to skate in level 1 (the beach skatepark), the whole shipwreck is more skateable now with more lines Thanks for playing. A little preview of skating the area with some of the issues sorted out:
- Version 0.76.22 notes for 12th of March update - 13 March 2026
Still cleaning up vert skating system cleaning up some re-entry bonks (still some bonking, and still some camera glitching on landing) adjusting vert landing speed and entry angle updating level 1 (beach skatepark) with more transition to skate (the big shipwreck is skateable as vert now) thanks for playing
- Version 0.76.21 notes for 5th of March update - 5 March 2026
More vert stuff your parabola in the air after launching from vert is now based on your entry trajectory if you launch off the lip at an angle then you'll fly a long arch if you launch more straight on then you'll fly more straight up and down NOTES: still needs polish, going more straight up and down causes bonks and camera glitches on landing added some quarter pipes to Level 1 by the skateshop Thanks for playing.
- Version 0.76.20 notes for 4th of March update - 5 March 2026
More Vert fun implemented max vert air boost late jump, so you get a consistent max air boost if you jump at the last minute before the lip of the vertical transition or if you late jump in a .2 second window after auto-launching into vert (gives you a 20 m/s vertical velocity boost) updated Level 1 (beach skatepark) with a giant mini ramp updated Level 2 (rooftop skyscrapers) with more test vert transition of different sizes added a new community level from DempC (Skate Center) Here's a preview video skating the new miniramp in level 1 thanks for playing
- end of day devlog 3/4/2026 - 4 March 2026
More vert transition skating supportToday I made a tutorial video for modders on how to make quarter pipes in Godot that will work with cheapskate. All vert skating is still early development so the system doesn't support all sizes of ramps and transition so I wanted to set out a simple guideline for people that are experimenting early. The tutorial is on YouTube. I also added some quarter pipes to the template level of the cheapass modding project so people can look at some examples.NOTICE: I've been pressed in a Steam review that I'm not prioritizing the right things. Here is a quick reminder of my priorities, particularly why I place a high priority on everything to do with modding in case the complaint stemmed from me spending too much time with the modding pipeline. The core principle of this game is to provide a modding platform, so support for modding will always be as high of a…
- end of day devlog 03/03/2026 - 4 March 2026
Still polishing vert & playing player levelsToday I put some more work into polishing vert, some speed adjustments. I'll spend some time tomorrow integrating vert transition into Level 1 so there's some quarter pipes and half pipes to skate and push a new build.I also got a chance to play 3 new player made levels from players in our Discord community (come hang out). They're all works in progress but that's cool because that's what cheapskate is all about. I had a lot of fun playing them. I recorded playing and uploaded to YouTube here if you want to check it out. Maybe these can go in the next build also in the community playlist.
- end of day devlog 3/2/2026 - 3 March 2026
Still Iterating On Vertical Transition SkatingSmoothing out launch force and adding a late jump window so the maximum force is either you jumping at the last second before the lip or in the late jump window. Gives more consistent air. I'll look into adding some UI feedback to indicate if you got max force or not when you launched. Testing 1 meter quarter pipe also. Works well and feels good if it doesn't go up to vert. Going to do some more smoothing tomorrow and try to push up a new build.Also New Track Coming: Michael Hanson - Ill Equipped
- Version 0.76.19 notes for 25th of February minor update - 26 February 2026
Some speed tweaks and continued vert polish after dinner pushing on flat ground now accelerates to maxDownhillSpeed instead of maxFlatgroundSpeed so you'll be able to get up to faster speed by just pushing (7.5 m/s) new maxVertDownhillSpeed added, you accelerate to this immediately when landing on vert and you can now accelerate up to this speed over time on normal downhill (not vert) slopes so you'll be able to go faster on downhill (8.5 m/s) fixed sticking to the downhill transition when landing on vert so you don't bounce down the transition anymore cleaned up most cases where you'd stutter and slow down going up vert transition so you should launch up smoother now I nearly got a million point combo just riding in the snake run doing vert air tricks and manuals so it's feeling better. Still needs continued polish, but moving along. Thanks for playing.
- Version 0.76.18 notes for 25th of February gameplay update - 25 February 2026
Second Pass on Experimental Vert Transition Skating Game update with some recent work: special camera angle for vert air, camera swings high above you now hang time added to vert air (reduced gravity at apex, and hold at zero-g) added more experimental transition for testing to the second building top in level 2 Going to continue with a 3rd pass on vertical skating. Still lots of work to do to smoothen out the jankiness. Next addition is VertDownHillMaxSpeed which is the speed boost that you will get from landing from vert air. Right now it still obeys the old downhill max speed so it feels mushy and not as satisfying as it should. Thanks for playing.
- end of day dev log 2/24/2026 - 25 February 2026
New Vert cam and hangtime in next buildVert cam. Camera changes while in vert air:The camera swings high over you as you hit apex.Hangtime. I've added a couple of gravity cushions to emphasize the zero-g feel:As you approach and exit zero-g, I cut gravity by about 1/3 so you float through the apex a bit. At zero-g I delay applying any gravity for about 0.2 seconds.Good next pass for the system. I'll try to add some more transition to the first 2 levels tomorrow and see if I can push up a new build.Also, I'll try to come up with a 'spec' soon for what the system can tolerate for transitions for level design (radius, min/max angles, etc) for anyone modding.Here's some preview video:
- Version 0.76.17 notes for 20th of February gameplay update - 21 February 2026
Wrapping up first pass Vert Skating I've been working on some explorations for vert skating. I've settled on an approach and have implemented the first pass. It mostly works but still needs polishing and some debugging work. TO TEST OUT THE NEW VERT SKATING (EXPERIMENTAL): load into level 2 (skyline highline) go to the corner with the giant cranes grind the two I-Beams to get to the other rooftop try out the long test halfpipe on the other rooftop Still needs work but I wanted to check it in and push a new build to continue polishing now. The camera will be the next update. Thanks for playing!
- mid week devlog 2/19/2026 - 19 February 2026
Wrapped up vertical transition skating exploration (video)After exploring a couple different approaches, I've settled on lip spline movement for guiding the skater in the air above vertical transition. I feel that, for me, it will be the cleanest approach for implementation and expanding on it.I have cleaned up the framework and set up logic to handle launching into vertical air, flying above the ramp but staying aligned to the rim, exiting the end of the ramp, and landing back into the ramp. There is some cleanup still to do before pushing a new version to steam:clean up landing stutter so you roll smooth down the transitionclean up camera to enhance the flying feelhandle optional landing to grind on the lipOverall happy with the progress though and glad I explored a couple of options before proceeding. This is one of the last major skateboard gameplay mechanics that is missing from co…
- end of day devlog 2/16/2026 - 16 February 2026
I've continued experimenting with the first approach for vertical transition skating to see what it would take to get the basics set up and then get an understanding of what it would take to fully debug, featurize, and polish. I posted a video covering the status of this current experiment on YouTube. It's a summary of the way the current development approach works and how it functions and what the next experimental approach will be and why. I'm basically doing a raycast down looking for vert tagged faces and correcting the movement vector to stay on top of vert if you're drifting off. I'm not entirely happy with it since there will always be endless edge cases because it is a reactive solution (ie: always trying to correct a near infinite set of possible situations). I'm going to experiment with my original plan of moving along the spline on the transition lip and using vertical veloci…
- end of day devlog 2/12/2026 - 13 February 2026
Today I continued experimenting with approaches for vertical transition skating. There are a few different ways to go about it so I'm seeing what the limitations are starting with this method. Some things are already working fairly well, others not yet. I'll keep experimenting for a while. General summary of the three approaches:ray cast down after jumping from vertical transition and look for vertical transition and shift movement direction to stay over itbuild invisible vertical geometry beyond the height of the ramp and just 'wall ride' up itadd a spline on the lip and move along the spline and just use the vertical velocity for height positionI'm starting with approach number 1 first right now. We'll see how it goes. I may move to approach number 3 since I'll have a rail spline on the lip for grinding anyway and it's cleaner IMO. I'm going away for 2 days to volunteer on some trail…
- end of day devlog 2/11/2026 - 12 February 2026
Vert Skating Early DevelopmentToday I started the vert skating system. Just very early development to set up the testing / dev environment and begin extending the skater control and states. This will take a while but it's a small start. I began with the face flags to handle things like velocity and slope friction and alignment. Then tomorrow I'll have a look at air handling for alignment to the ramp contour. Small video time lapse of progress through the day.
