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Mastering Voxel Buster: Enhancing Unity Apps with Essential Plugins

vijay k

1. What is Voxel Buster?

Voxel Buster is a popular technology company known for developing cross-platform plugins and tools that extend the capabilities of Unity-based mobile applications and games.
Their flagship product, Voxel Buster Ultimate Essentials (VB Essentials), offers a suite of must-have Unity plugins that simplify the integration of:

  • Native Popups
  • Social Media Sharing
  • Cloud Services (Google Drive, iCloud)
  • In-App Purchases
  • Game Services (Achievements, Leaderboards)
  • Local & Push Notifications
  • Media Picker (images, videos)
  • Utility Tools (device info, permissions, etc.)

Voxel Buster plugins are highly optimized, reducing the time and complexity needed for Unity developers to build fully-featured mobile experiences on both iOS and Android.

Key Highlights:

  • Cross-platform (Android & iOS)
  • Ready-to-use native APIs in Unity
  • Clean documentation and examples
  • Saves development time significantly

In short: Voxel Buster = Unity Mobile Essentials Made Easy and Fast.

2. Major Use Cases of Voxel Buster

Voxel Buster’s tools can power a wide range of real-world application scenarios for game studios, indie developers, and enterprise apps.

2.1 Social Sharing Integration

Enable users to share screenshots, achievements, or content directly to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and more.

2.2 Cloud Storage Access

Allow apps to save or load user data from cloud services like Google Drive, iCloud, and Dropbox.

2.3 In-App Purchase Handling

Implement consumable and non-consumable IAPs across platforms without writing platform-specific code manually.

2.4 Game Center and Google Play Games Integration

Manage leaderboards, player profiles, achievements, and game saves easily through unified APIs.

2.5 Push Notifications

Set up local notifications and manage remote push notifications (APNs, FCM) from within Unity without requiring deep platform-level coding.

2.6 Media Picker Integration

Let users select photos, videos, or documents from their device’s media gallery directly within your app.

2.7 Device Information Retrieval

Retrieve hardware info, battery stats, network status, and permission settings to enhance app functionality and debugging.

3. How Voxel Buster Works Along with Architecture

Voxel Buster plugins are designed with a modular, highly portable architecture.

3.1 Core Unity SDK Layer

Voxel Buster provides a Unity C# SDK that defines clean APIs for various functionalities like:

  • Social services
  • Cloud services
  • In-app purchases
  • Notifications

Developers call high-level functions in C# code, which remain platform-agnostic.

3.2 Native Bridge Layer

The SDK internally calls native code bridges:

  • iOS → Swift/Objective-C bridges
  • Android → Java/Kotlin bridges

These bridges communicate with platform-specific APIs such as:

  • Apple’s StoreKit
  • Google Play Billing
  • Facebook/Instagram SDKs
  • Firebase SDKs

3.3 Unified Abstraction Layer

Voxel Buster abstracts away platform differences.
Example: Instead of writing separate code for Android/iOS sharing, you just call:

NPBinding.Sharing.ShowView("Hello World", "Check this out!", "screenshot.png");

Voxel Buster takes care of invoking the correct native functionality underneath.

3.4 Event System and Callbacks

Voxel Buster provides clean event handlers (e.g., success/failure callbacks) so that developers can react easily to user actions, API responses, or errors.

Architecture Overview Flow:

Unity App (C# API) ➔ Voxel Buster SDK ➔ Native Platform Bridges (iOS/Android) ➔ OS Services (Sharing, Notifications, IAP, etc.)

4. Basic Workflow of Voxel Buster

Here’s a typical workflow when using Voxel Buster Essentials in a Unity project:

4.1 Import Voxel Buster Plugin

Download and install the Unity package via Asset Store or manual package import.

4.2 Configure Settings

Use Voxel Buster’s provided Unity editor windows to:

  • Set up API keys (for Google, Apple, social platforms)
  • Enable/disable services
  • Customize popup texts, permissions, etc.

4.3 Use Voxel Buster APIs

Call Voxel Buster methods in your Unity C# scripts.

Example for Sharing:

NPBinding.Sharing.ShowView("Hi!", "Look at my new high score!", "screenshot.png");

Example for Local Notification:

CrossPlatformNotification.Instance.ScheduleNotification("Game Reminder", "Come back to play!", TimeSpan.FromHours(6));

4.4 Platform Build Preparation

  • Ensure necessary permissions and entitlements are configured.
  • Export builds for Android (Gradle) and iOS (Xcode).

4.5 Test and Deploy

  • Test on real devices to ensure native features work smoothly.
  • Publish on App Store, Google Play, or enterprise distribution.

5. Step-by-Step Getting Started Guide for Voxel Buster

Here’s a simple guide to start using Voxel Buster in your Unity app:

Step 1: Import the Unity Package

  • Go to Asset Store or official Voxel Buster website.
  • Import the Ultimate Essentials package into your Unity project.

Step 2: Configure Plugin Settings

In Unity:

  • Open Window → Voxel Buster Essentials → Settings
  • Configure necessary services like:
    • Social Sharing
    • Cloud Services
    • Notifications
    • In-App Purchases
  • Enter platform-specific credentials (if needed).

Step 3: Request Permissions (Optional)

Handle runtime permission requests for Android (storage, notifications) using Unity’s permission APIs or Voxel Buster’s helper methods.

Step 4: Use Simple C# API Calls

Example 1: Social Share

NPBinding.Sharing.ShowView("Check this out!", "Made with Unity + Voxel Buster", "screenshot.png");

Example 2: Schedule Local Notification

CrossPlatformNotification.Instance.ScheduleNotification(
    "Time to Play!",
    "Don't miss your daily bonus!",
    TimeSpan.FromHours(24)
);

Example 3: Load Saved Files from iCloud

CloudServices.DownloadFile("myGameSave.dat", OnFileDownloaded);

Step 5: Build and Run

  • Export Android APK or iOS Xcode project.
  • Make sure you’ve set up the right signing credentials, permissions, and service entitlements.
  • Test on real devices.

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