Creative Industries Help Austin, Texas, Strive amid Tech Downturn.

Byline: Maureen Fan

Jul. 24--AUSTIN, Texas--Ten years ago, online-gaming impresario Richard Garriott built a hilltop mansion here that features a butterfly pavilion, an observatory, a well-stocked dungeon and an indoor waterfall with hot and cold running rain.

Britannia Manor -- named for the fictional realm of Garriott's hugely successful computer game Ultima Online -- is stuffed with ancient crossbows, antique mechanical toys and other exotic artifacts from Garriott's travels. It's a home riddled with secret passageways and trap doors, just as in one of his games.

Garriott is one of Austin's rock stars, known for hosting outrageous "Haunted Houses" and because his previous company, Origin Systems (now an Electronic Arts subsidiary), helped spawn more than a dozen gaming start-ups in Austin. More than most, Garriott embodies Austin's quirky community spirit, a vibrant creativity that is key to Austin's identity and future.

Together with other leaders in Austin's music and film industries, Garriott is trying to preserve Austin's reputation as a playground that attracts artistic types and strengthen the city's creative industries in order to maintain a diversified economy in the midst of a downturn.

Austin's cross-pollination of arts and technology has also made it an increasingly competitive place to do business and, like Palo Alto, a university town that hangs on to its graduates. While sometimes in fits and starts, city and business leaders are increasingly paying attention to the vitality of Austin's…