How do you make characters? Options

[Umidori]

I HAVE THE BODY OF A GOD...

Who really let himself go...

MY EMPEROR!!!!!!!!!!

Sir Slicer! *kneels*

~Umi

[Cain]

I always start with the concept. As I build the character, backstory tends to fill itself in. How far I min/max the character depends on a lot of things: how good I envision the character is at what they do, what he/she is bad at, the game expectations, and so on. Secondary skills get filled in depending on what the team needs and what fits the concept.

[Iduno]

I just think of regular people and how they fit into the world. Then I think about how someone screws up their lives to make a quick nuyen. How do they use the skills and equipment they have to live in the shadows?

Or I think of someone who would already be disillusioned with the corps, why they feel that way, and what they do to show it. I might need to write up the mystic adept rocker that's partially forming in my head.

[StealthSigma]

When I make NPCs I like to go through character tropes and pick ones that I like or I think will work.

I'm actually in the process of crafting an NPC crew for an airship.

So far I have....
Captain Carpet of Virility
XO Kick Chick
Master Mechanic Wrench Wench (Instead of Chief Mechanic because it abbreviates MMWW which if rotated 180 degrees is MMWW)
Chief Engineer Cloudcuckoolander
CAG Badass Grandpa
Master Chief Tomboy with a Girly Streak

While they will obviously have real names.... my goal is always to get the players to refer to the NPCs by those trope nicknames.

[thorya]

Something else I do (I had forgotten until someone indicated that he might maybe run a game later this summer and I immediately made a character), I usually finish the character by typing out a list of things the character can do and I highlight things that could potentially be difficult to GM for or that might overly simplify things with the option for the GM to veto anything before the game starts.

For example, "I put all of my left over nuyen into explosives. I currently have 47 kilograms rating 3 explosive. If you think that will be problematic let me know.
Also, I have two sustaining foci, one for health and one for manipulation. I also have control actions and decrease willpower. How do you want to handle an NPC who has Willpower 0 and is the subject of a control actions spell?"

[Vagabond]

I generally come up with a role or concept first, then make up personality and history as I assign numbers.

[X-Kalibur]

I tend to start with a premise and then let the numbers I decide upon make up the story for me. I start asking myself "why, does this person have skill at X in order to fill this role?"