In our interview with Heidi Borge, creative director at Cinnadev, she breaks down how Delphinium blends farming sim structure with a character-driven narrative, why tone matters, and how a small project turned into a multi-year effort.
Can you introduce yourself and the game?
Heidi Borge: My name is Heidi, and I am the creative director at Cinnadev. I am making my game Delphinium. It is a narrative driven farming sim more focused on the narrative side of things.
How has it felt showing the game to players?
Heidi: It’s been really exciting. It was very nerve wracking at first, but just seeing people getting to try the game out… seeing people being able to connect with it and navigate the game in the way that I intended.
What inspired Delphinium?
Heidi: Disco Elysium and Pathologic are actually two of the highest ones on the list… games with stories and worlds where you feel like you’re part of such a big world.
“The first four days… would be about eight hours”
What does the demo show players?
Heidi: The demo build I have here is the first four days of gameplay… if you were to play through all four days… about eight hours.
How long is the full game?
Heidi: The story is about 30 days in total… we could be looking at… upwards of 30 hours.
“These characters talk about dying a lot”
The tone feels different from most farming sims. How would you describe it?
Heidi: These characters talk about dying a lot… I think it’s not maybe what you would expect from a farming sim right away.
I really want to be able to balance the lighthearted moments… with more serious and in depth scenes as the story progresses.
When did development start?
Heidi: “I started working on Delphinium at the start of 2021… I said to myself… I want to make a small game. It’s going to take me like a month… and we are more than five years on at this point.”
“We’re in the end stretch”
How close is the game to release?
Heidi: We’re in the end stretch actually of development… it is primarily just cutscene implementation and dialogue implementation.
How did the partnership with Serenity Forge happen?
Heidi: I didn’t know what a publisher was at that time… but I was like, this guy seems really cool.
Narrative impact in games has always been a priority of mine… and that is what Serenity Forge is all about.
“I want people to see themselves in this world”
What do you want players to take away from Delphinium?
Heidi: I want people to be able to see themselves in these characters and in this world… if someone can relate to it… that is ultimately what I want.
