> local gauge = direction == "up" ? count + 10 : count - 10

local gauge = count + (direction == "up" ? 10 : -10)

I imagine these changes make the original Lua adepts think their training wheels have come off. The language now looks like any other. That's a good thing to me, and it will help with the adoption of the JIT, but the whole language could have been syntax modernized as a result. But.. when the work is done someone else can fork it into something independent from its Lua roots.

From that perspective the conditional operator seems defensible, where it would be feature creep otherwise, as it is generally unloved elsewhere.