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A 'Copy Story' button would be helpful. I kind of want to convert my story to advanced but I like the simple editor as well. Well, a Copy Story button would solve that problem. It should be utilized by the original creator only and not a co-author to not allow copying work and whatnot.

Just an idea.

One thing I would definitely use this feature for is making back-up copies of a storygame before I have a proof-reader proof-read it; that way, if the proof-reader accidently or intentionally deletes parts of or the entire storygame, then I haven't actually lost anything and I can simply make another back-up copy of the back-up copy and give the proof-reader another chance or find another proof-reader.

This also applies to co-authors; periodically copy a storygame when you have a co-author on your storygame, and if that co-author accidently or intentionally deletes parts of or the entire storygame, then you haven't lost much and you can continue working on the storygame with the co-author or you can salvage your own work. Of course, this can be done with copying each individual page into a new storygame, but this is tedious, and replicating the potential variables, scripting, and items is even more tedious.

Setting up a custom name usually takes me an hour or two, especially since I do it on mobile.

Really? Is it really that much harder to highlight everything and copypaste it?

But that's tedious. Not mention that you have to replicate the links, as well as potential variables, items, or scripting.

I suppose. But unless the story is very long, a 7 or an 8, you could have the replica finished in under an hour.

EDIT: Just thought of this; Having the ability to copy a story could result in multiple stories existing with the same name. I don't know much about the inner workings of the site, but I think that could screw the system up pretty badly.

The copy of the storygame could generate a number that signifies the amount of storygames under that title that exist.

Ex:

Storygame Title ==> Copy ==> Storygame Title (2) ==> Copy ==> Storygame Title (3)

Unless I'm misunderstanding, a button that copies individual pages seems pointless compared to a button that copies the entire storygame in one go. Not everybody has the sufficient coding knowledge in order to achieve that.

I think it'll be used more than you think.

I'd like to re-visit this idea (for whenever 3J re-emerges from the Canadian tundra) for another reason. I've noticed that after the latest contest a number of authors took down their games to put them in for reworks. At the same time, there are other interesting games (MyVacation) that are down for reworks. Unfortunately, I assume the authors lost interest/the work spiraled out of control somewhere along the way, and as readers we're left with the unsatisfactory situation where neither is the old version available to play, nor is the new one out of limbo.

An option for authors to shadowcopy their work would be appreciated. This would create an author-only version of a live storygame where they can make their edits. Once they're content with the edits, they can replace the live version of the storygame with the reworked shadowcopy. This should allow authors to rework storygames to their contentment, without denying new readers the chance to experience the games as they were, warts and all. As things are right now, the Live (published) version of the game is not accessible to the author.

Close, but you're missing the finer details

Create and publish story 1, which gets ratings and comments you don't want to lose

Figure out story 1 was proofread while half asleep and has more grammatical and/or logical mistakes than you're comfortable with.

Decide you want to renovate the story, so you take it down OR start a new one (Like Price of Freedom: Innocence Lost relative to Price of Freedom)

Here things can go two ways:

A) (Status Quo) End up realizing the revisions you made are more intensive than you realized and you just can it, leaving the game in a state of being unpublished and yet at the same time being unpublishable (due to the incomplete revisions) - Lose/Lose

B) You upload the new game and unpublish the old one, losing the aforementioned comments and ratings. Lose for Author/Win for Readers.

Here the goal is to let the author keep a version of the story published, so people can keep playing it while it's under surgery, and then when they publish the offline build they've been working it, it deletes the Live version and replaces all its files (a clean install instead of an update/merge, if you get that). This lets things go from Lose/Lose to Neutral/Win (the author doesn't lose, and the audience wins by still being able to experience the storygame). Should the author not be happy with their revisions, they can delete the shadowcopy and make a fresh one from the live version. This is pretty much just build management from software design.