I want to make maps. How can I do it?

The voxel program is too hard to use

Ahem... search.

You could connect to your own private local server and build in-game and save the map by hitting the F1 key which will save a map called lastsav.vxl in the vxl folder of your AoS program folder. Which is one way some people have done it. At some point you'll want to be pumping your map through VOXlapEDitor [VOXED] though. Look up a program called VOXED_Companion which is quite handy for bending Voxed into something of a more-usable tool.

Like I have others, I'd point you towards heightmaps: http://ace-spades.com/forums/topic.php?id=4552#post-65594
Heightmaps are simple and yet the very essence of what maps are in Ace of Spades! Play around in photoshop and you can make some groovy voxel textures!

There's another option, though, which I wouldn't overlook. It's the pyspades map editor made by mat^2 and the pyspades wonks. It is a SIMPLE program but don't underestimate what you could do with this and a steady hand on a drawing tablet or something.

http://umh.sandcrawler.net/index.php?page=tutorials&command=view&id=37

Basically you can paint each layer... and maybe program new brushes for the editor itself... haven't gotten into that yet, but I do use the program for working details into certain parts of maps... [hint] especially the water layer. You should definitely check this out. Runs out of the box. Links below...

Download: http://pyspades.googlecode.com/files/pyspades-map_editor-e940d8823d85.zip

some handy Tips: http://code.google.com/p/pyspades/wiki/MapEditorTips

Other tips. Consult the Wiki on mapmaking and the gurus on the IRC channels. There's a whole array of other map-making programs made by this guy here: http://silverspaceship.com/aosmap/

Not sure what else to say. There's other programs like slab6 for model making and poly2vox for converting other models into voxel format. You'd use those all in concert with Voxed for importing models and such...

Anyways... best of luck. I suggest printing out the Voxed help text file. It really helps me all the time keeping it handy... and the Voxed Companion link above explains the differences and key combos. Trust me... it's fun!

May I also point here? http://ace-spades.com/forums/topic.php?id=5752

and this program just came to my attention as well! http://sourceforge.net/projects/hme/files/hme/Source%20and%20Win32%20binary/hme.zip/download

^I'm gonna link to this whenever somebody new asks that

We need a sticky or something. I should write it up and give it to a mod.