Creating cuneiform fonts with MetaType1 and FontForge

I am interested in scripts, alphabets, writing systems, and in fonts, their computer representation. Ten years ago I decided to create Type 1 fonts for cuneiform, and last year, to extend them to Unicode OpenType versions. In my older Type 1 version (1998/9) [4] the raw text was written ‘by hand’ and then directly compiled into Type 1 with t1asm from t1utils [10]. The glyph set consisted of several separate Type 1 components to cover Akkadian (according to Labat) in a ‘Neo-Assyrian’ form (three files), Ugaritic, and Old Persian. Three books served as principal sources: two Akkadian syllabaries edited by R. Labat [1] and F. Thureau-Dangin [2], and the encyclopedia The World’s Writing Systems [3]. No scanning of pictures or clay tablets was performed. The fonts are based on a starting point—my simple design of wedges in three variant forms (see also Fig. 1, below):