AUSTIN, Texas — The SXSW Creative Industries Expo brought together some of the hottest tech innovators from around the world under one roof.

Reporter Jordan Hicks took a tour of the Austin Convention Center Sunday to take a look at what the expo had to offer. He started with a booth on Realms of Ethernity, a new massive multiplayer roleplaying game on the metaverse developed by Blue Monster Games. Developers of the game described it as a meta-metaverse, allowing it to incorporate games from other developers into Ethernity’s massive open world.

“We are trying to create a triple-A quality MMORPG experience,” a spokesperson said.

Also featured was Proto, a company working on technology that will allow users to beam into meetings as a hologram. The product took home SXSW’s Innovation Award for Connecting People.

“We’re Zoom on steroids,” Proto Director of Operations Noah Rothstein joked.

Representing the music category was Joué Music Instruments. Its product gives people creating music a quick way to get started with an instrument that’s easy to use. Different interchangeable rubber pads shaped as instruments like a piano, the strings of a guitar, and a drum board all fit onto a single Joué music board. That board connects to a laptop with software that turns the user’s personal computer into a home studio.

“It’s for people who want to start making music, but have no idea what to do,” a Joué spokesperson said.

You can visit SXSW.com for more info on these companies and a look at other innovators that presented at the Creative Industries Expo.