Life Makeover Shrine

Character Customization Tips and Musings

Character customization in Life Makeover is pretty nice, actually. You're allowed a fair bit of variety, and you can even make funny monstrosities. However, despite the variety in character customization, a lot of users models end up looking very same-y and boring! A few days after new gacha drops I will go and lurk the models that belong to the biggest whales in the server, and be utterly disappointed in their lack of aesthetic. From the downright offensive colour choices, to maybe not even coloring the new clothes at all it makes you wonder why do they even spend tens of thousands of € on this game. But as they say, money can't buy class - and usually this is reflected in the most non-pay2win section of the game - the character customization!!! You see, the whaliest of whales can't buy their way to a pretty character, so a weirdly high percentage of them use the default preset avatars. Quite interesting...

They can't even be bothered to use someone else's premade character from the gallery, which is just strange because other users will upload absolutely adorable characters for everyone to use. Maybe it's their whale pride! "I spent so much money on this game, I will not use a lowly peasants model as it will taint my reputation!!". Yes, that must be it, I see no other answer for this conundrum.

Interestingly enough, once you descend a few steps on the leaderboard from the main 3 spots, you will start noticing beautiful, breath-taking or incredibly unique and interesting models, usually made by whales that are actually obsessed with this game for real. To that I say, good job!!! If you're going to spend insane amounts of money, please make sure that I seethe and cry when I see your wonderful and beautiful creation. It's the very least you can do!

However, whales aren't the only ones suffering from the "I use the barely changed preset model" syndrome. In fact, the population that suffers from it the most are the new players, which is completely natural. I too, suffered from this syndrome even though I thought I was above it due to my extensive experience of character creation in various games. But sometimes you get duped - you stare at the default premades for too long and they start to look normal. Their weird alien features become the default in your head, so anything different starts to look unnatural. We need to break free from this, so I came up with a few solutions to this problem...

Before I get to real meat of the matter there are two model types ingame - Woman and Girl. Girl is kind of.. fictional child like, I guess the closest term would be loli because it's completely unrealistic. For some reason these Girl type characters always have breasts? And their body and face proportions are completely cartoony, which is why I'm not including them at all in this sperg.

Alright then. *clears throat*
I have diagnosed the issues and come to you with a few tips on how to make your model look less alien/fish like.

Problem number 1.: The preset models.
When you first start making your character you get greeted with these little aliens.

Well, when showcased like this, they don't actually look that horrible. Until you start noticing them. Everywhere. Everyone and their mother uses these models, despite the game giving you infinite options on changing your appearance. And then as you get sick of them, you start noticing the little things. The overly far set WIDE eyes, the big heads, the Michael Jackson noses, the small shoulders, the lack of hips, the puglike short faces, the overly skinny frames. Characteristics of these presets are echoed across the game and present in models that bothered to switch things up a bit. It's inescapable.
The solution:
Once you get comfy with the game, start lurking around in the community. Look in the in-game gallery, and you might find some hidden gems. Go on pinterest and search "Life Makeover game face ID" and look around there as well. While the aforementioned traits might be present in these models as well, you will expose yourself to a greater variety of appearances. Choose a face ID you like, and use it as a base for your new model! Enough of the fish/pug/alien hybrid, enough!! I jest of course, make your model look however you want...

Problem number 2.: The body proportions
This might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it wasn't mine in the start either. And now I know, just how wrong I was. The preset proportions are messed up!

The first noticeable thing here is that all of my characters now seem to have massive hips and clamp tier long legs, but that's besides the point lmao. I DO like a certain degree of non-realism and crazy proportions, after all. If we went crazy and started cutting heads, we'd notice that the presets and some of my old models have heads that are way too large compared to their shoulders.
The solution:
I know it seems like a non-issue and a personal preference, but since I've been asked once how do I make my models look adult - head size is a simple answer. I just reduce the head size to minimum, and enlarge the shoulders if necessary. Aside from the head/shoulders ratio, I also recommend making your characters a little bit thicker. The default skinniness is a bit too exaggerated and it will lead to your character looking like a malnourished bobblehead (refer to the 4th model in that picture above - but trust me it can get a lot skinnier than that). Increase the hip/butt size to whatever you desire, and try not to make the feet too tiny. I've seen some tiny footed models, and I have to admit, it freaked me out...

Problem number 3.: The faces
This one is the most obvious really. In the picture below we once again have a preset head vs. my model's head. First of all, notice the size. My character is a whole head taller, yet her head is so much smaller lol.

The solution:
To de-pugify a character you want to increase face height, decrease face width, make the eyes less far-set, and enlarge the nose. If you want to further lengthen the face you want to position the eyes higher, enlarge the nose and position it lower, position the mouth lower as well and then enlarge the chin. Sadly the one thing the game char customization cucks you out of is making horse faced queens. As a half horse half human hybrid myself, I am disappointed.

Final thoughts
Now of course, you don't have to do these things at all, these character tips more or less just follow my journey through the game and my own process of making a character. Consider this text one big meme that could prove to be useful, if you didn't want a generic preset character... I leave you with this final image of a rank 1 player and a reddit user that makes really realistic faces. A lot is possible in this game, it just feels like barely anyone puts the character customization engine to work!

To de-pugify a character you want to increase face height, decrease face width, make the eyes less far-set, and enlarge the nose. If you want to further lengthen the face you want to position the eyes higher, enlarge the nose and position it lower, position the mouth lower as well and then enlarge the chin.

Final Thoughts

Now of course, you don't have to do these things at all, these character tips more or less just follow my journey through the game and my own process of making a character. Consider this text one big meme that could prove to be useful, if you didn't want a generic preset character...