Experience, Levels and Skills

Skill levels control how good you are at certain activities within the game. Except for "Career" (which has six levels), all other skills can be raised to a maximum of 4. All skills start at either level 0 or level 1 (noted in the tables below). You gain 1 skill point with each level that you earn. Levels (and consequently skill points) are awarded based upon your experience:

Level Exp Pts.   Level Exp Pts   Level Exp Pts  
1 0   13 150   25 445  
2 5   14 170   26 475  
3 15   15 190   27 505  
4 25   16 210   28 545  
5 35   17 230   29 585  
6 45   18 255   30 625  
7 55   19 280   31 665  
8 70   20 305   32 705  
9 85   21 330   33 755  
10 100   22 355    
11 115   23 385  
12 130   24 415  

You earn experience based upon how well that Single did at fulfilling all needs during the day. The more needs you fill, the more experience you gain.

Skill Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
Friendship
(starting level: 0) 		+25% +50% +100% +145%
conversations using this skill will have a bigger impact on the Friendship need and will raise the short-term Friendship meter of your character and the other Single faster
Romantic
(starting level 0) 		+25% +50% +100% +145%
conversations using this skill will have a bigger impact on the Romantic need and will raise the short-term Romantic meter of the other Single faster
Erotic
(starting level: 0) 		+25% +50% +100% +145%
conversations using this skill will have a bigger impact on the Erotic need and will raise the short-term Erotic meter of the other Single faster; Natasha has a hidden point in this
Creativity
(Starting level: 0) 		piano/guitar/art: +35%
tell joke:- +30%
French Kiss - +23%
Make Out: +20%
Kiss in bed: +18%
Romantic Kiss: +15%
Sex: +15% 		piano/guitar/art: +30%
tell joke:- +28%
French Kiss - +18%
Make Out: +15%
Kiss in bed: +13%
Romantic Kiss: +13%
Sex: +13%		 piano/guitar/art: +25%
tell joke:- +23%
French Kiss - +13%
Make Out: +11%
Kiss in bed: +10%
Romantic Kiss: +10%
Sex: +10%		 piano/guitar/art: +20%
tell joke:- +32%
French Kiss - +8%
Make Out: +5%
Kiss in bed: +5%
Romantic Kiss: +5%
Sex: +5%
Increases the rate at which the "Fun" meter increases wihen performing "Fun" activities; percentages are cumulative, so 4 skill points will get you anywhere from 43% to 110% more fun, depending on the activity. Creativity bonuses also apply to the other person when telling jokes. In story-mode, at least, you get experience points for playing the guitar that increase, depending upon your creativity level: at level 0 you get 1 point each time you play, at level 1 you get 3 points, at level 2 you get 7 points, at level 3 you get 13 points, and at level 4 you get 21 points.
Repair
(Starting level: 1)		 +40% +100% +175% +285%
Repair broken objects faster
Cleaning
(starting level: 1) 		+30% +70% +120% +??%
Perform cleaning tasks faster
Cooking
(starting level: 1) 		+20%
(cook simple - $20/meal) 		+45%
(cook normal - $30/meal) 		+70%
(cook good - $45/meal) 		+100%
(cook great - $ ??/meal)

Perform cooking tasks better and faster

In story-mode, you have an opportunity to cook up some Fugu if you don't mind fishing for Anna/Josh's pufferfish. Be careful, though, because if your cooking skill isn't up to the task, you'll give yourself (and Anna/Josh, possibly) a good case of food poisoning. I could be wrong, but I suspect that this would not be a good idea for that candlelit dinner.

Slacking
(starting level: 0) 		-30 minutes worktime -60 minutes worktime -90 minutes worktime -120 minutes worktime
Adjusts your starting and ending work hours
Career
(starting level: 1) 		1 2 3 4 5 6
$200/day $320/day $430/day $530/day $620/day $700/day
0900-1500 0900-1515 0845-1515 0845-1530 0830-1530 0830-1545
When the workday starts and ends and how much you receive when your Single returns from work each day. Note that adding Slacking skill points will change the working hours from these values.

You have a 2-hour "window" in which you can leave for work. So if you are supposed to go to work at 0900, you can actually leave anytime between 0900 and 1100. You will be gone, however, for the appropriate number of hours regardless of when you actually leave. If you add the "go to work" command to a stack of other tasks, it will still execute even if the "window" has closed. The only requirement is that the command must be added while the "window" is open. You can alter the size of the "window" by changing the following line in the game.cfg file:

maxWorkDelay = 2

Changing it to 3 will hold the "go to work" window open for three hours rather than two.

You will generally wake up on your own. The default wake-up time is two hours prior to when the "go to work" windows opens. You can change this value in the game.cfg file, too.

workPrepareTime = 2

Changing it to 3 will cause you to wake up three hours before the "go to work" window opens, but your Single must be at least 80% rested before they will wake up on their own. If you'd like them automatically get up at a certain number of hours before the "go to work" window opens regardless of the fatigue level, you'll need to change the following line, as well:

minGetUpTiredness = 0.8

Set it as low or as high as you'd like as long as the value is between 0.0 and 1.0. The higher the value, the more filled the Energy bar must be before they will wake up on their own. So setting it to 1.0 means that your Single will not wake up on their own unless their Energy bar is full and setting it to 0.0 means that your Single will always wake up the specified number of hours before the "go to work" window opens (does not apply on Saturday or Sunday because their is no "go to work" window on those days). Regardless of how you set these lines, you can always manually cancel a "sleep" command to force them out of bed.