Developing characters

[Magsie]

I am in the early stages of developing a game, based on Regency England, that will have 5 potential love interests. I really want to make them feel like developed, individual people. I had been looking at lists of character archetypes and twisting them to fit the vague notions I had of the characters. But that left them feeling hollow-- like I just peeled them off a list, and I had.
So I started a Pinterest board for my project. I thought it would just be a nice little procrastination station, but, in using it, I've actually carved out really unique, compelling personalities for each LI.
Song lyrics, aesthetic photos, faceclaims, memes, quotes, poems-- I throw them all together and I get a really detailed mental picture of who they are. I'm really excited to bring out their voices, these nuances, in the work itself.
So my question is, what sort of thing have you done to develop compelling characters? I'd like to hear what everyone else does, and maybe I can refine my process.

[fleet]

I get inspiration from novels that generally reflects characters I want to create.

[Fuseblower]

I think the process is different for everyone.

For me it's the drawings. I have a vague notion of what I want and start drawing. Ideas form while drawing the characters and situations they find themselves in. It's all quite organic. The story itself comes from ideas I get from the drawings (this is especially true with "The Doomed Diner" which has illustrations instead of sprites). Internal consistency takes care of itself (doing something out of character feels like playing a false note as the personalities develop during the process).

Of course, this comes from someone who makes the story fit the drawings instead of the other way around

[RizVN]

Generally, I only know how the character talks and a few things they believe in. Then I pit them against characters that are somewhat opposite of themselves. Then I get to know the characters better by writing the first draft. I didn't even know they had certain hobbies, had tragic backstories, were troubled by something in the present, etc... It's an exploration, and the writing process at this point is supposed to be fun. Having high expectations of your writing or character here will only lead to writer's block.

The 2nd draft onwards is where I do the polish. I generally focus on consistent characters rather than compelling characters, but the result generally turns out to be decent.

[Bab66]

Everything, for me at least, comes down to life experiences and inspirations from various sources. I basically created one of my main characters from a song I loved listening to. It's really that extensive.

[lsf22]

I guess for me it depends on the type of work I want to do.

For most of my works I take inspiration from life, which includes people, other forms of art such as music and even world events. I haven't fully got around to it, but I would like to read autobiographies and works that represented people authentically to help with characters. I myself don't like hanging around certain people, so it would be difficult for me to accurately depict them if I wanted to.

For people in other time periods:
I do research on time periods if I'm trying to get a certain aesthetic or do a certain time period for a game idea. I'll have to read old classics such as: Don Quixote, The Canterbury Tales, The Iliad, etc. someday. Good thing there are legal archives of books for us read from digitally. Like Project Gutenberg