I have now implemented the ability to cast Illusions and the usage of a permanant disbelieve spell for human players. I still need to add AI support for casting disbelieve and illusions.
After some thought I have decided on the current method for selecting illusions. If in the future I have enough time I will include other user interface options..
When Illusions are on as a game option, you will find that moving over a creature spell will now show the words in the panel at the bottom: “cast as illusion” if over the top-half of the spell icon, or “cast as real” if over the bottom-half. Although a bit unintuitive to people new to Chaos this does help eliminate cheating as if other people are not looking at the screen then they have no clues as to what spell is cast.
I’ve played many games of Chaos Funk with friends and I know that if I put in the same pop-up box (yes, cancel, no) option then the friends who are looking away from the screen would be given a clue by the 2 mouse clicks as to the fact a player is casting a creature spell. Unlike in Funk there is virtually no need to press a mouse button prior to clicking on a spell icon. So 2 mouse clicks would be a give away compared to the normal 1 click.. Using the left and right mouse buttons seems an obvious answer, but on some mice these make a different clicking sound, again making the fact the player wants to cast an illusion painfully obvious. Anything that the player has to do extra for a creature spell (pressing a key, extra mouse clicks, etc..) is too much of a clue to sneaky friends!
At the weekend I will try to find time to add AI use of illusions and disbelieve. But, no promises! 
July 11, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Good to see more steady progress. I always thought left/right mouse would be the way to go. You can’t expect your opponent not to look at the screen.
July 12, 2007 at 5:33 pm
The left/right mouse was what I thought of too, but then I realised that MY mouse actually makes a different click-sound for each of the two mouse buttons. Probably something to do with use, but anyone who got to know my mouse could tell whether it was an illusion or not.
I’d suggest maybe adding something simple to the pointer or the icon for creatures – changing to show the letter R to cast Real and an I to cast an Illusion, or something like that. I think it’d make the system a little more friendly to use, because you’re getting some obvious confirmation at the place where you’re clicking.
July 12, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Dr. Jest: That’s a possibility, although the current system seems to work fine in testing.
It’s a pity about the mouse button noise difference, I suspect like you it is probably related to use.
July 13, 2007 at 8:13 am
if you were playing against someone that devious – you could throw in a few decoy clicks here and there!
July 13, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Now there’s a simple idea! I suppose if I didn’t think of that I would really have deserved to lose anyway. Wizards are subtle, and all that…