thanks for playing! ^^
The first bird room has been a source of frustration for some players, but I'm at odds with it atm - it seems to partly work because it in fact should teach that momentum is preserved when jumping from a moving platform. That being said, it shouldn't do that through frustration, though! :D
And then, the scanner lines!
They are 8 lines (4 red, 4 yellow) that increase in length by 2 pixels every frame until they collide with something. The rotation angle phi_i of an individual ray i is calculated with
phi_i = phi_0 - phi_max * sin(0.02*t + pi/8*2*i)
where phi_0 is the center direction (that the player can manipulate), phi_max is the half of the ray cone "width" angle and the sine term changes per time t and ray i.
So your guess wasn't that far from the truth!