July 28, 2025
Jasper Holland and fellow creative wizards leverage Mizzou opportunities and advantages to launch video game company.
Jasper Holland鈥檚 father told him something he鈥檚 never forgotten.
鈥淐omputer programmers are modern-day wizards,鈥 Holland said, recounting his father鈥檚 words. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e looking at all of these complex rules and creating things, sending tiny packets of lights to go do all these crazy things in the world.鈥
Those words led Holland, a Columbia native and Battle High School graduate, to the Department of Electrical 糖心Vlog传媒 and Computer Science, where he and fellow classmates are leveraging Mizzou advantages to chase a magical dream of their own: becoming game designers and business owners.
Rolling into business
This entrepreneurial story begins with Mizzou 糖心Vlog传媒鈥檚 TigerHacks, the university鈥檚 largest hackathon 鈥 a weekend where computer programmers gather to code websites, games or other software, all based on a particular theme.
During Holland鈥檚 freshman year, he partnered with classmate Sam Hirner to compete. Mizzou made that partnership happen: The duo, both听听students, met as residents of Mark Twain Hall.
That year, the hackathon theme was transportation. While brainstorming in a study room, they rolled in office chairs to write on a dry-erase board. Then it hit them: What if the chairs were the inspiration they鈥檇 been looking for all along?
And just like that, the video game 鈥淥ut of Cont-Roll鈥 was born.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e an office worker,鈥 Holland, now a senior, said, describing the concept of the game. 鈥淚n this office, there鈥檚 this extensive network of rolling chair racing.鈥
They added lifelike sound effects by going to Naka Hall and recording the sound of chairs rolling through empty halls.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very physics-based,鈥 Holland said. 鈥淵ou move around with your mouse to swivel your chair and then you click to kick off and try to navigate through all these different office landscapes and get the fastest time to beat the computer-controlled office workers.鈥
They won first place in the gaming category and an overall crowd-favorite award.
It was the catalyzing event that put the idea of a video-game company in their heads.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 necessarily our only ambition coming into school, but after having done it and seeing the entire process in a weekend, quite rapidly, we thought, 鈥榊eah, we really love doing this,鈥欌 Holland said.
Gaming wizards
Once they hatched the idea to form a business, the duo needed to round out their team. Mizzou had already provided the perfect addition: Honor Christensen.
Christensen and Holland met during another unique Mizzou experience. They were both members of the 2020 class of the听. Hosted by the Honors College, the academy has welcomed Missouri鈥檚 most academically gifted rising high school juniors to campus for the past 40 years.
The group wasted no time in making the idea a reality. After kicking around a few options, they landed on a company name that perfectly encapsulated the trio.
Weird Mage, their newly formed limited liability corporation, is a 鈥渃reative studio,鈥 Holland said.
鈥淚t fits us well,鈥 Holland said, referring to the name. 鈥淲e all really enjoy the fantasy elements, and when I think of being creative, I think of it as magic.鈥
They don鈥檛 want to put limits on what the company might offer in the future, which they hope will include gaming products more broadly, including tabletop games. But for now, the focus is on video-game development and organic marketing.
Holland hopes the magic will extend to video creation, as the partners try to produce captivating behind-the-scenes content that will document their creative process.
鈥淲e鈥檙e making games already, but if we can make really well-put-together videos about those processes that are entertaining in their own right, not only does that get people interested in the products we鈥檙e making, but those videos can be a product people want to come back and watch,鈥 Holland said.
Mizzou’s magical method
Mizzou has been instrumental to Weird Mage鈥檚 genesis. Beyond the unique experiences that led Holland to his business partners, the university is also playing a key role in the company鈥檚 early financial viability.
Holland isn鈥檛 merely a student in the Honors College; he鈥檚 a听, one of five recipients of Mizzou鈥檚 premier scholarship for the Class of 2026.
Stamps Scholars receive a four-year, full scholarship, plus an additional $16,000 enrichment fund to be used during the student鈥檚 four years to enhance their studies and academic pursuits. Holland has used his enrichment funds for study abroad opportunities and is using some of them for this project.
鈥淚 wrote a proposal, and they approved the use of the rest of my enrichment funds as sort of a stipend for me to be able to work on Weird Mage full time over the summer,鈥 Holland said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have to worry about getting a part-time job or anything to supplement that.鈥
With that freedom, he鈥檚 dedicating his efforts to exploring different game engines and honing his video production skills.
Holland attributes many of the skills he鈥檚 developed to Mizzou鈥檚 varied programs and offerings, taking advantage of not just computer science courses but also those in its Department of 糖心Vlog传媒 and Information Technology and digital storytelling courses in the听听.
The greatest benefit boils down to the Missouri Method 鈥 learning by doing.
鈥淥ftentimes, in these creative endeavors, actually doing the thing is the best way to learn and get better,鈥 Holland said.
Extracurricular opportunities, such as Holland鈥檚 participation with听听broadcast team, have also provided him with exposure to different aspects of the gaming industry and additional technical skills developed through programming tasks.
He also credits the听听as being a great resource for 鈥渆ntrepreneurs of all sorts, not just game developers.鈥澨
鈥淭here are a lot of programs for start-ups and entrepreneurship,鈥 Holland said. 鈥淭hey seem really valuable. Some give you training and mentorship. Others are like competitions where you can win funding.鈥
Holland and company know the gaming industry is a competitive one, made even more so because it鈥檚 become more accessible to independent developers like them.
鈥淚f it ends up not working out as a full-time thing, we can pivot to a less-involved, part-time model, but it鈥檚 definitely not going to work to go full time if we don鈥檛 try it right now,鈥 Holland said. 鈥淲e have the ability to invest all of our time and energy into it right now, thanks to being students at Mizzou.鈥
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