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Google AdMob Unity Plugin v5.4.0 Android Issues with Facebook Audience Network

Recently, I tried to add Facebook Audience Network as an open bidding ad source using the AdMob mediation plugin for Unity. After importing the Facebook mediation plugin, Unity starts to auto resolve conflicting dependencies, this is usually fine and is recommended. However in this case, the external dependency manager decides to upgrade Google Play Services to version 20.0.0. This is where the problem arises, the Facebook Audience Network 6.3.0.1 is not compatible with Google Play Services 20.0.0, causing a crash when trying to request an ad. There are multiple people that experienced the same problem here. Apparently some people managed to get it working by simply downgrading Google Play Services to a previous version. In the end, I found a workaround solution that works for me. Remember to backup your project files if you decided to try it out.

  1. Import the Facebook mediation plugin and let Unity auto resolve any conflicting dependencies.
  2. Download the following 4 files from the maven repository. I chose Google Play Services 19.8.0 because I have other plugins that requires a minimum of version 19.8.0. You can check the min version required by Facebook mediation plugin here.
    com.google.android.gms.play-services-ads-19.8.0.aar
    com.google.android.gms.play-services-ads-base-19.8.0.aar
    com.google.android.gms.play-services-ads-lite-19.8.0.aar
    com.google.android.gms.play-services-gass-19.8.0.aar
  3. In the Unity editor, go to Assets->External Dependency Manager->Android Resolver->Settings and disable “Enable Auto-Resolution” and “Enable Resolution On Build“. This is important so that Unity does not try to upgrade the files we going to replace later back to version 20.0.0.
  4. From the Project Browser, navigate to the Assets/Plugins/Android folder, then delete version 20.0.0 of the 4 files we downloaded previously and replace them with the 19.8.0 equivalents.
  5. Build and check if ads is serving as intended.

Note that we have now turn off auto resolution of dependencies and if you ever enable it again (perhaps to resolve dependencies for other plugins you import later), Unity will upgrade Google Play Services to the problematic version 20.0.0 and you will have to repeat the steps above again. Until google updates their Google AdMob Unity Plugin to support Google Play Services 20.0.0, I hope this workaround helps someone that is facing similar issues. Cheers!

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Featured on Apple App Store “5 new games we love”

Yay! Puzzle Dino – Egg Adventure got featured in the “5 new games we love” section on the apple app store! I did not noticed it until someone point it out to me in LinkedIn. Frankly speaking, I had no expectation of being featured in the app store as there are some many other good games out there. It is truly a blessing and humbling experience to be mentioned along with the rest of the games. Do check out Puzzle Dino if you are interested in a relaxing but challenging puzzle logic game. Love and Peace!

Puzzle Dino – Egg Adventure Press Coverage/Review

Being a solo indie developer, one of the most difficult things to handle when releasing a game is getting coverage and visibility. So far Puzzle Dino – Egg Adventure has been mentioned in the following websites. I am ever so grateful for these mentions, thank you editors!

Macworld UK
https://www.macworld.co.uk/feature/best-free-ipad-games-3506984

TouchArcade
https://toucharcade.com/2021/02/10/best-new-iphone-games-february-10th

METRO.co.uk GameCentral
https://metro.co.uk/2021/02/12/best-new-mobile-games-on-ios-and-android-february-2021-round-up-14071867 (Puzzle Dino Scored 8/10)

mobilgamer
http://mobilgamer.hu/cikk/puzzle-dino-egg-adventure (Game Review)
http://mobilgamer.hu/hir/gyujtogess-tojasokat-egy-bebidinoszaurusz-oldalan-a-puzzle-dino-egg-adventure-mobiljatekban

AppUnWrapper
https://www.appunwrapper.com/2021/02/13/my-week-unwrapped-february-13-2021

app4smart
http://app4smart.com/ru/14931-puzzle-dino-egg-adventure.html (Game Review 7.8/10)

app-s
http://app-s.ru/news/puzzle_dino_poisk_jaic_dinozavrov_delo_samikh_dinozavrov/2021-02-18-14663

Olhar Digital
https://olhardigital.com.br/en/2021/02/12/videos/google-play-check-out-the-best-apps-and-games-of-the-week-for-android
https://olhardigital.com.br/en/2021/02/12/tips-and-tutorials/the-best-apps-and-games-of-the-week-for-android-117

Can’t add app into Facebook Audience Network

Recently, while trying to add one of my Android app into Facebook Audience Network I got this message “This app is already being monetized: The app you’re attempting to add is already being monetized by a business.”. This is weird as I managed to add the iOS version successfully prior. I then tried to remove the app from https://business.facebook.com/settings/monetization-properties and add it again but it still did not work. I later stumble upon a post that mentioned to change the Property name (Integration -> Properties -> Edit Property), I changed mine to a different name and it work! Not sure why it works but hey at least now I can proceed. Hope this helps someone else that is facing the same issue.